Article

“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.

Dissolve and coagulate! These are the mysteries of the ancient alchemists, and as the oldest and wisest of the alchemists is Mother Nature herself, continually transmuting herself, it is the wisdom of the Witch as well. But what does it mean?

Many quote the words as an important teaching, but fail to apply them. They are two processes, overtly chemical but also operating on emotional, mental, and psychological levels, and by psychological, I harken back to the psyche as part of our soul complex and not a modern concept easily dismissed by many practitioners. These processes occur internally in our relationships, and seemingly externally in our communities and societies.

To dissolve means to break down by a solvent. That which is distinct and solid is broken down in a liquid, becoming undifferentiated. Salt in water is dissolution. Esoterically water embodies our emotions, so often our emotions are the solvent, the acid, with our distillation of unconditional love, Perfect Love, as the universal solvent. That which will not dissolve needs further purification through either a different preparatory process or a stronger solvent; otherwise it must be discarded.

To coagulate means to bring together to a solid or semi-solid state from a liquid. In alchemy it refers to the virtues of being between, having flexible traits of both the solid and the liquid in a purer and more rarified form. Coagulation is a state of union, a return from dissolution.

Our path as Witches is one of continually unmaking and undoing with simultaneous remaking. Things are built up, and things are broken down. We wax and we wither to wax once again. While it might appear as simple repetition of a pattern, there is a richness that grows over time, like a musician who becomes a virtuoso through repeated practice. Through a seemingly prescribed pattern, great artistic expression is found.

Many of us come to Magick and find empowerment, building up our identity. Many of us find that identity by shedding an older one. It’s a process. For some, the shedding of a previous religion is freeing, and the first exclamation of “I am a Witch” is a spiritual medicine to the soul.

I had the opposite. Shedding my Catholicism for a nebulous agnosticism for the sake of explaining myself, I was hesitant to claim the title of Witch. I didn’t want to be limited by something else. Yet paradoxically, without those parameters I would not have had access to the teaching and experiences that were so freeing.

I had a coming out process to myself as a Witch. Like many of my generation in the queer community, there was an initial hesitancy to say, “I’m gay.” There was the phase of not wanting to limit or define my sexuality by any parameters, to not be “locked in” by any expectations or agreement, to float nebulously between the lines. And while some do that because it’s truly their viewpoint, there was a foundation of fear for me. It was only when I entered into queer community and released that fear that I found the emotional and social support and the role models necessary to progress towards greater happiness and health. And I was later able to offer that in return.

Then there comes a time when you hold too tight to an identity or a specific manifestation of it. Through it, we unwittingly cast a binding spell of comfort and certainty upon ourselves, on a path that is meant to have times of discomfort and uncertainty. That binding prevents growth and change, so we struggle and rage against our self-created bond, consciously or not. Consciously we then have the crisis or ordeal, which allows us to choose. Unconsciously we will see the stagnation or change in others and act out, creating unnecessary drama to give ourselves the illusion we are not bound, but vital.

Today we have very specific identities. In the effort to capture more nuance and subtlety, we sometimes do a disservice by placing too fine a set of limitations on ourselves. We don’t give ourselves permission to broaden; instead, we become even more specific. We see it socially, in terms of gender and sexuality, but also culturally, medically, psychologically, and in terms in our hobbies and interests. Much of our social media has us leading with these labels, and it can be initially quite helpful to have the words, and people, who relate to us and our experiences. But once we not only identify with something, but represent it to others in person and online, we can create a bit of a trap for ourselves. It becomes entwined with our ego, but we couch it in the idea that we are being of service as educators, being open, transparent, and modeling healthy vulnerability. But are we?

And we see it in the Witchcraft world.

Witches often deeply identify with their tradition, so much so that they might block learning a perspective or teaching not overtly found in their tradition, dismissing it as unnecessary and not even realizing they are doing it. No one tradition has all the answers, and learning new perspectives can inspire new truths.

Likewise Witches will also run from their root traditions in an effort to seem wider, deeper, darker, or more important without giving respect to where they have been and who and what opened those first doors to them. How many of the anti-Wiccans out there would be a Witch without those public Wiccan authors and teachers they disdain? Just because something is not a part of your practice doesn’t make it worthy of contempt.

Today Witches will often overly identify with their favorite, or easiest, form of Magick, encouraged by online memes with little depth: “What kind of Witch are you? Crystal Witch? Astro Witch? Faery Witch? Dark Witch?” I was speaking to a seeker asking for help for a specific problem, via messenger, and I suggested a fairly simple herbal candle spell as an effective solution, and was told, “No, I can’t do that. I’m a Crystal Witch. I only work with crystals. That wouldn’t work for me.” I then asked, “How do you know it won’t work? How do you know you are only a Crystal Witch? Couldn’t you be a Crystal Witch and a Candle Witch? What does this even mean?” I got a very upset response rooted in the fear I was challenging her identity and right to be a Crystal Witch, because once she found who she is via an online questionnaire, no one was going to take that away from her.

The path is one of challenge and questioning. We face the guardians of the mysteries continuously, and they often wear the faces of friends, mentors, coven mates, teachers, social media connections, and particularly those you specifically ask for advice with your craft. If a question can take it away from you, it was not really yours to begin with, and you might be better off letting it go. That’s not to say some Witches are not deeply connected specifically to crystals or plants or the cycles of the Moon, but we are all vastly complex and multifaceted beings and can’t close down to other possibilities and ideas for the false certainty of a two-word label.

I know on my own journey, I feared that I was leaving the identity of Witch behind as I explored deeper healing techniques than those I learned originally in the Craft. I got into the Theosophy of the light workers, reiki, herbalism and holistic healing. That led me deeper into both shamanism and ceremonial magick, which brought me full circle back to Witchcraft. I had to be willing to let it go to find it again and really embody it on a new level.

Even today, while firmly identifying as a Witch, I often find myself having more in common with mystical Christians, Yogis, and Sufis than many of my fellow Witches, but it’s the fellowship of experience and the ability to see and live the universal while simultaneously living a specific tradition and lineage. There is the common bond between us. You have to consciously go through a few cycles of dissolution and coagulation to get that perspective.  

I think of the Wicked Witch of the West and the cause of her untimely end in The Wizard of Oz: water. “I’m melting, melting!” she cries. The end, and Dorothy makes her way home. The Witch melted, dissolved in our collective consciousness to return again, coagulated and redefined as the hero Elphaba in Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked and the musical of the same name. When one identity is released, something greater can rise out from the process.

Make holy water for purification, be it for your altar or a lustral bath, and when you do, remember that you are repeatedly called to dissolve and later coagulate. Sprinkle the salt into the water and consecrate it for purity and blessings:

Spirit of salt I call upon as a creature of earth.

Spirit of water I call upon you as a creature of the seas.

Together may you both bring purification and blessedness, and may we remember we continually rise and return to the primordial waters of the deep.

Blessed be.

Give some thought to what identities you might be called to sacrifice as time goes on. How does that make you feel? What thoughts does it generate? Explore the possibility now, so in the future, it will not be a shock.

We must dissolve and coagulate, fluctuating between the universal and specific, to turn the cycle and grow richer in experience. The path demands sacrifice, which doesn’t mean to kill, but to make sacred by release, by giving it away to the divine. A good magician goes through many deaths and rebirths when following the cycles and seasons. The path offers continual opportunities to unmake, unwind, and undo ourselves and all we have been holding onto, and to then remake, reinvent, and grow ourselves anew.

Dissolve and coagulate. If we hold too tightly to any one identity and can’t find the universal in it, we stagnate.

In the last few months I’ve gotten a higher than usual number of messages from people interested in starting a Pagan, Witchcraft, or spirituality group, and wanting to know if I had any advice.

How long do you have?

Perhaps it’s the hope that the pandemic will end and we can resume social and spiritual gatherings that has people planning ahead and seeking deeper connection and the commitment and camaraderie that a group can create. People seek the mystery experience of a circle, coven, order, or temple. Despite all the wonderful bonds of friendship and magick, groups always pose risks and challenges, and sadly, we often enter into them totally ignorant of group dynamics, assuming the best possible experiences are the only possible experiences. Groups are extended relationships, and like all relationships, there are cycles, seasons, and times when things are smooth and when things get rough. How you navigate those times is the true measure of both the group and the individuals in it. Thankfully, some awareness upfront can help in the long term.

My own path in leadership within community evolved organically, without a lot of early awareness, as I had no real desire to be in anything beyond my immediate peers. My first coven was formed from peers who all graduated from a training program at the same time, consisting of my mother and my spiritual sister. We would gather for the Moons and do spells. I like to plan, and they were happy to let me plan, but they often led the ceremonies themselves. The “coven” had no structure, and it was easy to get along with each other since we all knew each other well.

Then friends who were interested in what we were doing wanted to know more. We would have “guests” to some rituals. A group who hosted sabbats that we were often guests of ourselves decided to withdraw, and turned over their semi-public Samhain to us, and then came as our guests. A book club was formed for those simply wanting to explore—dinner and discussion that turned more into dinner and less discussion. That turned into a study and meditation group that turned into a formal class that graduated into a new, larger coven. Years went by, and suddenly I was forming a nonprofit Temple with core people from that time. Looking back, there was a lot I wished I had known before embarking on any of these things, but I didn’t, as there were few resources. Covencraft by Amber K was my main guide, and I was thankful to have it and still recommend it highly, but I could have used more mentoring and guidance.

So here are some simple thoughts if you are thinking about starting or co-founding any kind of group, even if you think it will be only “fun” and super casual. Casual things often evolve into something else quickly when people feel the intense energy of magick and are touched deeply.

Defined Purpose – What is the purpose of the group, and does everyone agree? It’s easy to assume everyone has the same unvoiced idea, but usually, they don’t. We all bring expectations and assumptions to the table. The biggest problem with groups is that everyone thinks they think the same thing, but everyone has their own definition of what the group actually is and their role within it. You can do it however you want as long as people have clearly agreed. “Circle” and “coven” mean different things to different people, and we come with unvoiced expectations from reading, movies, and our projections about what we want, so it is easy to be disappointed and then blame others. Determining how formal or informal the group is and having some sort of mission statement is good. Is it social, educational, celebratory, or to provide moral support? All those things?

Defined Roles – What is everyone’s role in the group, in light of the defined purpose? What are the responsibilities we each hold? Are they the same? Are they different? Are they equivalent? Simple things can go unnoticed; for example, if you are all meeting at one person’s house, there is a burden for that person to “host” by cleaning, preparing the space, and even having food. Will that burden be shared? What are the time commitments and schedule? How much notice do people need? What happens if you miss a meeting? Is there magickal and/or mundane prep work? In larger groups, are there written “job descriptions” that can be passed on when someone steps down?

Leadership – Is someone in charge? Multiple someones? What does “in charge” mean? What is their responsibility to the group? What is the group’s responsibility to them as a leader? How do they step down? How are they removed? Often the most well-read member becomes the leader in occult groups, but well-read doesn’t always equate with wise. Sometimes the most public and personable person becomes the leader, but personality also doesn’t equate with leadership skills. Thrust into a new role, new leaders can be insecure and make mistakes, or present as what they think a “leader” is, and people will accept that…until they don’t. Make sure you are really clear in what you are doing and presenting, and when you don’t know something, be clear that you don’t. A lot of new leaders of groups assume, unintentionally, an air of mystique because they do know more, but present themselves, without realizing it, as more advanced than they really are. Even if they are “advanced” in comparison to the group, all leaders of groups have clay feet, so be prepared for the process of people putting a leader on a pedestal and knocking the leader off the pedestal. How you handle that is the mark of a wise leader. I was taught that while we are responsible for ourselves, if we take on a leadership position, we have to be prepared to be responsible for the whole, the container of it all. When someone fails to do their agreed-upon part, it’s up to you to make it work.

Dealing with Mess – While physical clean-up after a meeting is important, the bigger concern is the emotional-social mess that can be created. No matter how clear you are, be prepared for the group to be messy. People are messy, and it’s a part of life. I’d be more worried if there were never a problem rising up because that means there probably is a problem, but you don’t know about it. There will be misunderstandings, some that can’t easily be resolved. There will be drama, and if people are social outside the group, their social relationships will impact the dynamic of the group. Is there any thought to conflict resolution? Decision making? It can be as formal or informal as you’d like, as long as everyone knows what they are agreeing to when they join. Often someone assumes it’s absolute consensus or majority democratic, and when it’s not, or a leader makes a final call autocratically, people get upset. How do new people join? How do members leave in good graces?

Relationship Dynamics – Be prepared for family dynamics to play out in a group. Sometimes it can help, but sometimes it’s a big problem. People will work out their parental issues with perceived authority figures and sibling issues with other members. If you don’t personally have those same issues, it will all look foreign to you until you get to know their story. As an only child, I was often bewildered at group dynamics. Even once you do understand, pointing it out to those doing these unconscious behaviors is not always successful because it’s unconscious, and people don’t want it pointed out. Age, in relationship to you, doesn’t always matter. I found myself often taking a parental role to people chronologically older than me. Traditional covens often have structures and agreements that hold the container of these processes. Modern covens and informal groups do not. One of the most destabilizing things for a community, not often clearly taught, is when the group leaders look to the members in a training process for support and friendship or come to rely on them for personal support. While a student is in process, there is always a period of challenge where everything related to the work is a test of the work. Some members get tribal, framing everything in terms of personal loyalty to the group or leader, or the opposite, and rebel against the group and leader and stir problems with other members that were not there previously. It’s easy to take it personally when you think they are your friends who happen to be taking a class, rather than initiates in process in a mystery tradition.

Neglecting Personal Practice – For many, the group becomes everything, and any personal practice or development gets sidelined for the work in the group. Even if doing personal work is part of the group—say, homework or individual parts to prepare before the group meeting—for some people, if it’s not happening at a group meeting, it’s not happening. Don’t neglect your own personal practice and digging deeply into yourself in exchange for helping others. You have to do your own work continuously, often outside of the group. Leading others through a sabbat is not the same as experiencing the sabbat yourself. Guiding others in meditation, when you are responsible for the psychic safety of a group, is not the same type of gnosis you will personally receive when meditating alone.

Isolation – Some formal groups require you focus entirely on them. There is nothing wrong with that as long as you know that, and you know how long that process lasts. For some, you can’t go to other groups or teachers until you finish your first degree, or even third degree, but there should be a clear process and container; it shouldn’t be an indefinite amount of time with a “you can only speak to us” commandment from the group or tradition. When you are able, keep studying with other elders and teachers. Find support in other groups. If you are a leader in your group, develop a peer group outside of any group you lead. Despite any personal relationships you have, if you are in a formal leadership position, it is quite difficult to be personal friends with people in the magickal group who are not also leaders. Having outside support creates perspective.

Ulterior Motives – Ulterior motives makes it sound like someone in the group is truly sinister, and while that can happen, most often it is unconsciousness that makes a motive ulterior, and as it slowly rises to consciousness, the member doesn’t know how to address it. Some might be issues of power, authority, and self-esteem, but the most common is when a group turns into a therapy group, blurring the line between sharing, support, friendship, and co-dependence. If that is what everyone wants, it can work for a time, but it’s worse when it turns into a therapy group for one person alone. How does that get addressed if it’s not what the majority wants? Having clearly defined purpose and responsibilities helps. It doesn’t mean you don’t help a person in need, but determining what you can and cannot do, and what happens in and outside of the group, is an important step.

Identity – Once a group is formed, people will strongly identify with it, often sharing with others that they are members of the group, for a variety of reasons. Some are simply proud of the work being done, or feel excitement about the new adventure and want to share that feeling. Others will have a strong need to do so, to bolster their own esteem and identity, borrowing more strongly from the group’s collective esteem, identity, and energy, often without realizing it. People often come to Witchcraft seeking belonging and will compromise themselves to fit in, even when not asked to do so, because that is what they do in many other social groups. There is healthy compromise for the collective focus and unhealthy compromise. In our early days, we had many members exploring Witchcraft who were obviously not a good fit for it, but they had to come to that determination themselves. They just wanted to be doing what their friends were doing. The process of embracing and rejecting an identity can be rough on the individual, and on the group, and graceful ways to navigate it should be explored.

Contemplation of these nine points can be helpful when thinking about group work and starting new groups. Even if you are informal and dismiss most of this, at least you have given it thought, and if the issues arise, that forethought, rather than surprise, will aid you in the process of navigating what’s next. Despite being a tradition of psychic practitioners, the dynamics of groups will often lead us into realms we did not expect, and part of our magick is to be properly prepared. Deep thought about community dynamics is one of the ways we embody the love and respect we have for our fellow practitioners on the path.

The practice of magick—or of any spirituality really—is often described as a path. We walk the path. There are many paths up a mountain. Witches walk the crooked path. There is a well-worn path and a hidden path. There is a road less traveled.

These are all ways of describing movement, often but not always progress, and change. How things look at one point on a path can be radically different when you hike further along. The path can have peaks and valleys, the equivalent of high and low points for us. Sometimes it’s easy to walk. Other times the terrain is quite rough on our spiritual feet, causing pain or stress to us and requiring more effort.

We each have an individual path, but that path may coincide with that of a tradition. The techniques of a tradition are the tools and skills to better help navigate that path. Someone has gone up ahead and left information for you to help you traverse it better. As more people go in the same general direction, the path becomes more obvious, though Witches often seek the adventure of stepping off the path and into the wilds, it’s nice to be able to find your way back to common cause. And sometimes your adventures weave onto other paths, and you take those skills, symbols, and ideas back to your crooked path of the Witch.

In the process of creating an individual practice, something I’ve noticed among the practitioners whom I admire and respect the most is the transition. Their path changes, grows, and evolves. It keeps its roots. It’s not flitting from one thing to another, disconnected, but there is a continual synthesis.

As a path, I often describe it following a trail of breadcrumbs. In 2019 I wrote about it specifically here. It’s a key to understanding how to really craft your own practice. There is a belief that once you make communion, or union, with your Holy Guardian Angel—your Higher Self, Bornless One, or Watcher—you do not need any other teacher, that the HGA will teach you. Yes and no. When your connection is clear and direct, your HGA will certainly be a primary source, but often its role is to guide you to the next piece. You might not easily hear linear information from it, though you might. But what I have consistently found is that the HGA will guide you to the next step in the spiritual path, be it direct instructions, connections to other spirits and gods, the right book or course or other physical teacher who will help you in the process. While your HGA becomes the primary tour director of your personal path of evolution, you don’t have to do it all alone or create it out of nothing. Everything you experience nudges you to the next experience, the next bit of information, insight, relationship, healing, or challenge. All are part of the path, not just what you read about or do at the altar. Yet the altar is a visible manifestation of the process.

For me, the personal altar is key to my own unique path. Today many keep shrines to a multitude of deities, which is wonderful. Home spirit shrines, ancestral shrines, patron deity shrines, faery shrines, guardian shrines, elemental altars, prosperity altars, romance altars, healing altars…. our homes become fully functional temples, and I highly encourage it. There is a lot to learn and do at all those altars. Yet the most important is the personal altar, the working altar of the Witch, often, in days past, the only altar, where all these other altars would partake in a piece of the main altar, if at all. The working altar is the microcosm of the Witch’s world, their life, and the most subtle and powerful form of magick is the placing of something on the altar to bring it into your world, and the taking of something off the altar, to remove it from your world.

While we might keep a specific altar to a tradition we are dedicated in and working in, at some point, we have to bring together our own vision of our own world, on our own altar. We might dedicate a second altar to that specific tradition, but the primary altar is where the deep work on the path is made manifest.

Those magickal practitioners I most admire have their altars change, not often, but often enough. Of course there are the seasonal changes of the Witch’s altar. You might move things around and decorate for the eight sabbats or highlight a particular seasonal full or new Moon. But there are the broader changes that reflect your current work. As you practice a new pattern or work with a new tool, or a new spirit or deity relationship manifests, this should be reflected in your altar.

For a time, I was deeply invested in planetary magick, and my altar had a seven-candle brass holder, with tapers for each of the seven planets used in my work. I went through a long process of deepening my relationship with the seven wandering star gods, and then when that was complete, my altar changed. In a period of deep plant spirit healing and education, my mortar and pestle became centered on my altar, with many bottles of oils and tinctures of the plants I was working with at the time. My HGA brought me through a guide series of working on the “Crown of Witches” using imagery of both the north star and the zodiac, and the center pentacle of my altar was ringed with twelve stones for the zodiac. I would turn the ring for each visionary ritual, placing the stone of that sign, that point of the crown, in the center before me for the rite. In doing deeper elemental work, I would have various cards of the tarot out from the appropriate elemental suit, and have the court cards prominently displayed, asking the court to be inner world teachers. For a time I was building a better relationship with a familiar god of my youth, Ganesha, and had my Ganesha statue centered on my altar. Currently I’m completing work with seven goddesses who are in some way aligned with Venus’ powers, and have seven goddess statues upon my green cloth at the “top shelf” of my altar, along with copper, emerald, rose quartz, and various Venusian oils, incenses, and talismans.

The basics of my altar always remain, as they are fundamental to my worldview. The four elemental hallows are there; the black and white pillar candles for Goddess and God are there, as well as my cauldron, my pentacle, my scrying bowl, my stones, tarot cards, my incense burner and ash pot and offering bowl. But the change indicates an addition to my practice, a particular focus at this time, a request to the universe about what I want to experience or learn or the direction in which I have chosen to grow. And the universe—and those powers embodied by the altar—respond. When the work is mutually agreed to be complete, the altar is reset—sometimes to a ‘neutral’ position of just the basics, sometimes to a new direction—with many of the same fundamental elements.

Gifts from other practitioners can often be a sign from your HGA as to what is next. Several gifts of the same theme are a cosmic 2 x 4 to get your attention. A gift of a set of mala beads from one and a mantra book from another within a week of each other began for me a now lifelong fascination with mantra practice, and eventually a friendship and travels with someone who was deeply trained to be a mantra teacher, having great insight beyond the books to share with me. I have had significant gifts come to me from elders in the community, including a key and my first amber and jet necklace, unknowingly confirming a period of significant magickal work I had been doing.  

Readings from other practitioners when questioning your life can open a new door. I had an astrology reading that mentioned alchemy, and it opened the door to a whole exploration of something I was fascinated with in my younger years, now with the context to understand it better and put it to use.

I was always a Witch, even when working with foreign gods or the grimoire techniques. I considered broadly what I was doing as my Witchcraft, and as I gained experience, much of what I learned was folded into my daily understanding, worldview, and way of doing things. While I encourage people to fully engage in the trainings that are before them when studying in a school, tradition, or with a teacher, there is that point of adepthood where you have to synthesize all those pieces yourself, with your HGA, but it’s up to you, no one else outside of you.

Get your foundation. Learn a way deeply so you don’t flounder and fail to recognize what actually works and what does not, but then it is up to you. This is the key to the mature practitioner. In Part 1, we asked ourselves questions about setting up our practice. In Part 2, we looked at all the pieces we had and how they do or do not work together. And at this third step, we progress forward in our own unique way.

Not too long ago we received a question, or possible concern, about the frequency in the Temple of Witchcraft’s offerings of the name “Lucifer” and asked if this was always a part of the Temple’s teachings or a new direction towards which we were all heading. In a class on one of the beloved dead taught by a High Priestess and teacher in our school, Karen Ainsworth, the fallen star of Lucifer’s emerald in an Arthurian myth was used as a symbol in comparing the loss of a bright personality, in the form of Freddie Mercury. While it might seem strange for a bunch of Witches to honor the singer of the rock band Queen, I can tell you with great certainty that since the late 1990s, Freddie Mercury has been one of the pop culture figures to show up repeatedly in people’s meditations as a guide or teacher. I’ve lost track of how many people have said something like, “This is going to sound strange, but my spirit guide was Freddie Mercury from Queen!” 

We had another concern from the public when our Aquarius Lead Minister, J.T. Mouradian, offered a class on Jesus of Nazareth. Aquarius is our ministry of rebellion and public service, and will often offer things that surprise some. Similar concerns popped up in 2018 when I did a class on the Morning Star principle, and later, through a year of what I affectionately referred to as my “Heretical Sabbat” series of classes and meditations. We explored the Christian folklore and holidays near the popular and familiar Neopagan sabbats in an effort to claim some deeper mysticism, looking at what was originally borrowed by the Christians from the Pagans, and what was distorted in folklore as being demonic or evil.

Often the question is, “Are you secretly Satanic?” Or sometimes, “Are you secretly Christian?” The answer to both is no. We are occultists at heart. We are open to all kinds of wisdom. We look to see where all wisdoms intersect and draw from that point of light. 

If the question was, “Are you secretly Luciferian?” I would have to ask the questioner what they mean by that word, but depending on my mood, I might say yes, and not so secretly, but also probably not in the way you think. We don’t have rituals that venerate or worship Lucifer, but we have no rules against it either. Sometimes, to get around the obvious implications that some hold with the word, I might answer with “We are very Promethean” which will often force the questioner to have to follow up and ask what “Promethean” means, and that can start a fruitful conversation. 

The Temple of Witchcraft has always been about the light bearer in its ethos. In our first-degree mysteries, we learn the magick of psychic light, sending and receiving light as energy for healing and manifestation and information for divination and answers. Light is at the heart of our magickal correspondences, the power of visualization to manifest our intentions, and to experience true vision and prophetic sight. Even when we think we are not visualizing something, we are still receiving the vibrations of the unseen light of the astral. 

We are also devoted to the light bearer in terms of illuminating gnosis, of bearing information, knowledge, wisdom, healing, and hope into the darkness, as many of our most sacred images are of light bearers and torch wielders acting as guides and guardians. But collectively, we are not devoted to any one entity or moving in any one religious direction as a community.

We are devoted to Witchcraft, but have a pretty wide definition of Witchcraft as a science, art, and religion, as I learned first from Laurie Cabot. We are devoted to the Witch Soul, and through that, what is known as the Anima Mundi, the World Soul or Cosmic Soul which often, but not always, manifests as a Goddess in our history and folklore. When we collectively honor Hecate as Queen of Witches, we are seeking her in this form of the Soul of the World, connecting us all. 

We are a tradition of technique, and the techniques lead to experiences that often have a common foundation. We have no statement of belief, but when we teach the metaphysical foundations of the Temple, those techniques in whole, through a five-degree process experienced over seven-plus years, often lead students to what is considered to be a Hermetic, panentheistic, “soft” polytheistic, mystical view of Witchcraft. Yet no one is required to describe themselves as such, and most members have their own words and statements for their worldview and beliefs. We simply encourage those beliefs to be based on experiences, and when experiences change, being open to shifting paradigms and widening “reality tunnels” as Robert Anton Wilson wrote about. 

Our community mythos is likewise open-ended. We share common structures, terms, and poetry throughout the training, along with spirits specific to the tradition that are not directly found in folklore or history. We look to the great goddess as the function of fate, and the image of the Weaver and the Web. We look to the great god as the function of the logos, and the image of the Singer and the Song. Our occult history speaks of a pan-cultural global flood myth, the Sea People and Water City, the spark of light in matter, and the weaving of light that is also the basis of magick. These common points link greater public rituals and our initiations, but no belief or private use is required outside of the initial training. Being founded in technique, each member has the freedom to explore whatever relationships and pantheons they wish. Seek who calls to your heart and work with who shows up. Much like life, who you think you want and who wants you is different. Often who you need and who needs you is different than your first assumptions, so we don’t encourage people to pick a pantheon and stick to it only, but in this global world, to follow the unfolding strands, the trail of breadcrumbs, and see what unfolds for you. 

Teachers, ministers, and members are encouraged to share what they feel called to share. Just as currents will arise in the solitary practitioner, currents will arise in the community group, and the larger community. Ever notice how there are trends, even in our Witchcraft? For a few years, a particular goddess—or a particular technique or culture—will ascend in popularity, and then ebb a bit as a new tide comes in. When I began, everything was focused upon Isis as the great mother, and then that trend receded. Likewise we have currents in the Temple of Witchcraft, but they don’t embody the direction of the community and do not reflect changes in the Mystery School specifically, as we are based in technique. Even in my own recent classes—moving from this heretical sabbatic lore to now a more Egyptian-influenced metaphysics—does not demonstrate a shift to Egypt for the whole Temple, despite my being a co-founder. Instead, it’s just something I wish to share because the techniques are helpful to me. 

Look at the patterns that repeat, but with different nuances in different times and places to find your wisdom as a Witch. At first, many of us reject all things Christian because of past upbringing, and this is a good and necessary phase to make the break; otherwise we might still be practicing Christianity and calling it Pagan Witchcraft. But once you break away and heal, you start to realize there is a world wisdom, a perennial tradition beneath the mysticism, not dogma, of all traditions, points common to the human experience here on planet Earth, and that is where the heart and soul of wisdom can be found. We simply must struggle to find its expression in our own hearts, in our community, and in the context of our greater time and place. As occultists, look by function and force, as well as form. Look for patterns. Look at themes. Keep an open mind, but more importantly, keep an open heart and a willingness to reach out to other wisdom keepers, and in turn, accept the hand being offered to you.