How to Become a Witch (10 page)

The moon gives us opportunities to do pieces of large projects, short cycles of sowing and reaping within the greater Wheel of the Year. This lunar month, what can you accomplish on your way to achieving the larger goal? We get the gift of a new beginning every 29.53 days, twelve or thirteen times a year.

The lunar cycle, like the Wheel of the Year, is also a reminder of the wheel of life, the Wheel of Fortune in the tarot cards. What goes around comes around. What is low shall be raised, what is dark shall be light. As one variation of a common Pagan chant says, “All that dies shall be reborn…All that falls shall rise again.”
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Esbat Exercises

• Walk outside. Is the moon visible? What phase is she in? (If you can’t see her, check the Internet.) Do this nightly; begin to get a sense of her rhythm and phase until you notice it automatically and always know what phase she is in. Watch for her waning crescent in the daytime, too.
  
• What is your relationship to the moon? What do you feel when you are outside at night in the moonlight? Try to sum up your feelings in a poem, and write it down. Later you may wish to put it in your magickal journal, often called a Book of Shadows (see chapter 3).
  
• Find more names from various cultures for the monthly full moons on the Internet.
  
• Think of the magick or divination work you could do that would help meet your needs at four different phases of the moon:
  

diana’s bow (early waxing crescent)

full moon

hecate’s sickle (late waning moon)

new moon/dark of the moon

The Wheel of the Year and the lunar cycles are just two patterns that can help define and guide our lives. We can fit our projects and goals into them—whether earning a degree or building a house or doing spiritual work—and we can both blend with their energies and rhythms and use them to help achieve our hearts’ desires.

There are other cycles; watch for those that are special to your life—they may involve your career, your kids and school, your hobbies or sports, and so on. Just by being aware of these and planning for them, you can “go with the flow” more easily.

Beyond these are the recurring dance of day and night, the astrological cycles of the planets, and the reincarnation cycle of your lives, deaths, and rebirths. The mysteries and powers of all these are open to the Witch.

Chapter 3

Power of the Pentagram
The Witches’ Paradigm

W
ater, fire, earth, and air,

Touching magick, wielding power,

Ruled by spirit, all is there,

I am a Witch at every hour.

In our model of reality, the universe is formed of earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. On one level, they represent solid matter, gases, energy, liquids, and spirit. On another level, they are our physical bodies, minds, energy fields, emotions, and souls. All of the first four elements are connected and harmonized in spirit. The elements—and all the correspondences, or subsets of them—make up the symbolic language of Wiccan magick.

In chapter 1, we talked about the shamanic and ceremonial magick roots of Witchcraft. Of the four elemental components of being, the shamanic roots are physical (earth) and emotional (water), and the ceremonial is practically all mental (air)—but both work with energy and will, the fire element. The shaman might raise energy through drumming, chanting, dance, or song (physical and emotional expressions), while the ceremonial magician would be more likely to raise power by pure mind alone (focused and concentrated thought). So working with and directing energy is where the shaman and the ceremonial magician come together, and this is the synthesis that Wiccans use in magick.

The box below contains the most commonly used system of correspondences in modern Witchcraft. (Some traditions assign other correspondences to the four directions, and that is okay; there is no One True Way.)

At this time, you may want to make or purchase your first tool: the Book of Shadows that every Witch should keep. (We’ll cover more of the tools in chapter 4.) A Book of Shadows is a blank book in which you record your journey as a Witch. Every spell, every ritual you perform or participate in, as well as notes taken in classes, should be recorded in your book. Ideally, you might make the book yourself, but you can buy your Book of Shadows ready-made. A search on the Internet will find dozens of sources for fancy blank books. Your local metaphysical bookstore will have them, or a blank book from your local stationery shop will work. Some books will be simple, usually black; some will be embossed with a pentagram, the Tree of Life, or another symbol on the cover. You may want to buy a really nice pen for writing in your Book of Shadows, a special one for that purpose alone.

Before you use your new book and pen, you may consecrate them to the service of the Goddess and the God. Pass them through incense smoke or over a candle flame, and sprinkle a few drops of saltwater on them while saying, “I cleanse and purify this Book of Shadows and Pen of Art to the service of you, the Lady and the Lord, that I may write in your honor during my studies and in my practice of the Craft of the Wise. So mote it be!” (“So mote it be” is a witchy way of saying, “Make it so!”) The smoke, candle flame, salt, and water bring the energies of the four elements to witness your words and imbue the whole spell with their power.

Although it is traditional to keep a physical, paper-pages Book of Shadows, many modern Witches keep a virtual Book of Shadows on their computers. As long as you write in it faithfully, you can use either. But we suggest that you start with a physical book, since there may be part of you that really enjoys the feel of an actual book; you can always switch to the computer if you find you aren’t using the book.

Back to the pentagram.

The pentagram is a five-pointed star with the lines of the star overlapping. It is the symbol for everything—the five elements bound together, often drawn within a circle that connects them all. It has been used as a symbol of protection from ancient times: the pentagram was found stamped on the sides of grain jars in Sumer, and it was used by the Egyptians, Celts, Kabbalists, Christians, and Gypsies. Used upright, it stands for spirit ruling the world of matter—also life, health, protection, and the human being as a microcosm of the universe. Inverted, it can stand for the Hornéd God, or for Spirit hidden in matter or subject to it.

The five points can represent the limbs of our bodies with the head above, the five senses, the five stages of life (infancy, youth, maturity, elderhood, and old age), or the states of consciousness (deep sleep, light sleep, trance or meditation, ordinary waking consciousness, and ecstasy). The top point is spirit—our connection to Deity.

Different Witchcraft traditions place the elements at different points on the pentagram. In ours, the right upper point is water—emotion and intuition. Below it is fire (think an underwater volcano)—our will and vitality, energy and passion. The left upper point is air—our intellect and imagination; below it is earth (think the earth beneath the sky)—our bodies, health, prosperity, Earth herself. Let’s tour the pentagram, point by point.

Earth

Earth corresponds to the physical earth, with its mountains and valleys, fields and meadows, trees, rocks, and plants; to our physical bodies; and to all solid and material things. It also corresponds to the health of this planet and our bodies, and the abundance of the universe in all forms, including food, money, and possessions.

Why get your Earth-plane stuff together first? Because that’s the world we live in most of the time. We may spend some time in our thoughts or embroiled in emotion, but we always need food, shelter, and clothing. So, some pertinent topics to write about in your Book of Shadows would be: What would your life be like if you had all the shelter, food, health, income, and possessions you need? What could you then turn your attention to? And what steps can you take to bring physical well-being and abundance?

Exercise in Grounding and Centering: Go to a place outdoors in nature—your back yard, a nearby park, or out into the countryside—and find a quiet place to sit. If it’s winter, make sure you dress warmly so you can stay outside for several minutes. (If you can’t get outside, do this exercise in your mind today, and make a date with yourself to do it later for real.) Simply sit and let the sights, sounds, smells, and energies of nature flow around you and through you. Breathe the air, trace the outline of a nearby leaf with your fingertip, and feel the ground beneath your feet. Just
be
. Then reach out to the rocks, plants, and animals of this place, and listen for any messages they may have for you.

For the next few minutes, feel your connection to all of nature, then picture and feel a golden cord extending from the end of your spine down into the ground, down and down until you reach the heat at the earth’s core. Wrap the golden cord around that core to anchor you, and bring your consciousness back up the cord to where you are sitting. This is grounding, the first magick a Witch should learn, for you will use it in every magickal act you perform, every spell you set, and frequently in everyday life when you simply need to calm yourself.

When you can feel the serenity that comes with grounding, send your consciousness into your body, into that part of you that feels like your center. For some people it is the solar plexus, for others it’s a couple of inches below the belly button—you’ll know where it is for you. Feel the stillness there—that deep knowing that you
are
, and you are okay. Feel the peace of your center radiating out until it envelops you and meets the serenity of nature around you. This is called centering, and it is the second half of “grounding and centering” that you will do before every ritual and all magick. So, sit in nature, grounded and centered, for about five minutes. Then pick up your Book of Shadows and record your experience. What did you see? What did you feel, outside and in? Hear, taste, touch? How do you feel now that is different from the way you usually feel? What do you notice around you that you didn’t notice before?

Spend as long as you want in this place, recording your feelings and observations, so that you can come back as often as you want in your mind, even when you are physically many miles away. When it is time to go, thank the spirits of this place for letting you be here, then return home.

In the comfort of your home, ground and center again. Think about these questions: What does Earth mean to you? What do health, strength, and abundance mean to you, and how can you enhance them in your life? Write your answers in your Book of Shadows.

Living as a Witch in the World: Find a good book about the geology of your region, and start to familiarize yourself with that face of Gaia. Go back outside at least once a week, and get to know nature at this time of year. How is she different from the last time you enjoyed her presence?

Think about how you live on the earth—gently or not so gently? Consider joining Green America (GreenAmericaToday.org) and getting connected with the best of green living. When you join, they send you the National Green Pages, which has green vendors for everything from advertising to wine and beer. Check it out, and plan the steps you can take to live more gently on this stressed planet. Write about your thoughts in your Book of Shadows.

Exercise for Abundance: Inventory your wealth according to the pentagram. How are you wealthy in terms of intellect and imagination? In terms of energy and vitality? In terms of love and intuition? In material terms? In terms of your relationship with Deity? Make a prosperity treasure map based on your greatest need or desire. A treasure map is a collage of pictures on a sheet of poster board, with a few words thrown in, to remind you of your goal in a visible way. Hang it in a prominent place in your home, and meditate on what you can do today to manifest your goals and how it will feel when you have achieved them. Make up an affirmation, such as “My life is filled with good things and good friends, and all good things come to me easily and with joy!” Repeat at least twice a day. Write down the practical steps you can take to make it real—and do them.

Air

Air is the wind, from soft breezes to hurricane gales, the air that we breathe to survive, and the carbon-dioxide-to-oxygen cycle of the plants around us. Air also corresponds to our thoughts, intellect, and imagination. Without these three, we would not be able to appreciate our world or create magick.

Exercise: Go to a place with clean air (or get a picture of a wide-open sky above a meadow, forest, or mountains, and place it before you while you meditate). Take a deep breath and let it out, ground and center, then take another deep breath and let it out slowly. Focus on the breath moving in and out of your body, the breeze that comes in your window, the gale that brings the thunderstorm. What do thought, intellect, and imagination mean to you, and how can you enhance them in your life? When you have finished meditating, write your thoughts in your Book of Shadows.

Living as a Witch in the World: Think about the air you breathe—are you lucky enough to live in a rural area where the air is usually clean and safe, or do you live in a city with air pollution warning days? How do you contribute to air pollution (driving your car) and how can you cut back (riding a bike sometimes)? If you live in a polluted place, consider buying an air filter for your home, especially your bedroom, where you spend a third of your life. Also consider joining the Nature Conservancy, the National Resources Defense Council, the World Wildlife Federation, or some other conservation organization (contact points are in appendix C). Many of them are in the business of saving habitats, which includes the air we breathe. Or join the Arbor Day Foundation, whose mission is to plant trees (which produce oxygen). Or go to TerraPass.com or NativeEnergy.com to purchase carbon offsets.