Tag: personal practice
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Deferred Maintenance: Rebuilding A Spiritual Practice
Categories: ArchiveOne of the things I had to do as my mind began to recover was to become more aware of the capabilities I have now – at 42 years old – instead of holding myself to the same standards that I did at 32 or even 22 years old.
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Healing and Protection: The Two Essentials in the Craft
Categories: ArchiveMarcy Young was my very first witchcraft teacher, and one of the things she taught eighteen-year-old me was that I always had permission to work magick for healing and for protection – as long as I did it in such a way as to not infringe on the free will of the person I was…
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Traditional Wicca, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Process
Categories: ArchiveTraditional Wicca is a priesthood. Initiates are empowered to make direct contact with Deity and become Deity’s agents in the material world. That’s it. That’s the religion.
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The Web: Dancing With the Universe
Categories: ArchiveThe Web is more than the natural connections between all beings, be they animal, vegetable, or mineral. It also incorporates concepts of wyrd, karma, and mana.
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The Way: Walking in the Footsteps of the Great Teachers
Categories: ArchiveThe Way, at least as I currently understand it, is a practice that emphasizes the sorts of universal truths that underpin many of the world’s religions and philosophies-of-life: love one another, harm none, honor the divine, exercise compassion, help those in need, defend those who cannot defend themselves, safeguard all children, respect your elders, enjoy…
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The Good-Enough Work: Spiritual Progress When You’re Struggling
Categories: ArchiveIf you’ve been studying or practicing the Craft for very long, you’ve probably come across the concept of the Great Work. The Great Work, as it is understood by my tradition, is the process of discovering who you are, what your true will is, and how to manifest that true will. It’s a process that
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Renovating the Inner Temple: Recovering Your Space
Categories: ArchiveAs practitioners of the Craft, and indeed as human beings with families and jobs and lives, we can lose track of our own spiritual progress because it’s been superseded by other, more immediate concerns. That’s certainly been the case with me. I’ve found that it takes more effort to flex my magickal muscles, that things
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Teaching the Craft: The Fine Art and Science of Personal Responsibility
Categories: ArchiveI learned the Craft of the Wise in a few different ways. I first learned on my own by reading and experimentation. Then I found a community group that led me to a training circle led by a high priestess and learned through weekly study sessions, complete with handouts and homework assignments. My advanced training
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The Triple Ring: A Protection Spell
Categories: ArchiveOne of the first spells I learned as a young witch was the Triple Ring. When my teacher, a spry old crone named Susan, realized that my go-to shielding spell was making me oblivious to all sorts of things in my surroundings — which made perfect sense as I was visualizing a thick, red brick
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Tradition and Path: Where You’re Walking and Who You’re Walking With
Categories: ArchiveTags: personal practiceTradition and Path are words that get tossed around a lot in the discussion of Paganism and Wicca. Young traditions are sometimes scoffed at as being ‘really just a path’, as if a path is somehow less important than a tradition. There’s the implication that paths are eclectic or made up and thus less authentic