Natural Witchery (2 page)

Chapter 1

The most beautiful experience we can have is the
mysterious … the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.

Albert Einstein

The Natural Witch and Intuition

The natural Witch is often self-trained. These down-to-earth practitioners absolutely rely on study, personal judgment, and their intuition. It has often been said that a Witch never stops studying and learning. This statement is very true and at the heart of the natural Witch's craft. I find it interesting that if you look up the meaning of the word “craft” in
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary,
you'll discover a most illuminating definition: Craft (n.) 1. Strength, skill. 2. Skill in planning, making, or executing. 3. An occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill.

Witchcraft is a craft. It requires hands-on practice as you study and learn to become proficient at it. And just like any other type of craft, it can take years to find your own style and to develop your own personal techniques. And if you remember nothing else, remember that. This is about exploring your magickal preferences and celebrating your magickal style.

I honestly don't care how Hannah the High Priestess does it three states over; I care about you and what
your
interests and talents are. For this is how you become an adept practitioner. You get in there, rely on your instincts, roll up your sleeves, study, experiment, and do the work. Welcome to a journey of self-discovery.

So what makes you
you?
Defining who we are is more than the size of clothing you wear or the color of your eyes and hair. Our individuality comes from a light that is inside of us: that divine spark we all carry. It's our insights, spirits, and personality. Trying to categorize Witches and magickal practitioners is a tough job. Sure, we all have our favorite ways to describe ourselves, but let's step outside of the box, shall we? Celebrating our diversity in the Craft is an amazingly wonderful thing.

We are
not
all the same—thank Goddess! We each have our own ideas and ways of practicing our craft. This should be celebrated, because that's what makes us powerful, our personality and our individuality. And don't you ever forget it.

If you'd like to celebrate your right to be a magickal individual who listens to their intuition and follows their heart in the Craft, you have come to the right place. If these qualities remind you of yourself, then a natural approach to witchery is a good place for you to hang your Witch's hat. In the past, I have explored magick in the garden, in the home, and on each and every day of the week. This time, I want to go a little deeper and discuss our spirituality and individuality and to focus on our intuitions.

Learning how to trust your intuition, instincts, and psychic impressions is a phenomenal way to boost the power of your natural magick. And before you start to argue,
everyone
has intuition and psychic abilities! It's simply up to the individual to look inside and to realize their own potential. Just as the Charge of the Goddess states, if you can't find what you're looking for within yourself, you'll never find it without.

Now is when you must search deep inside your psyche and learn to be comfortable with yourself. I promise if you have the courage to do that, then you can develop new skills and a sensitivity to the magick around you. You will comprehend how to influence your environment and how to live your magickal life to the fullest. Together, we will discover how taking the journey within makes us stronger, unique, and more adept practitioners of the Craft.

The more we know, the better our intuition.

Christina Stead

Intuition:
What It Is and Why It Is Important

Magick is not only about working in harmony with the four elements and the natural world, it also involves listening to your intuition. Intuition itself comes from the primitive part of our brains—the primal force called the survival instinct. This force communicates vital information from a different level of the consciousness, sometimes dramatically, sometimes mundanely. Intuition doesn't arrive with swirls of pixie dust and an enchanting chime of harp strings; it's simply always there.

Intuition may be defined as a quick and ready insight and immediate apprehension or cognition—the good old-fashioned “gut hunch.” You just
know
. For example, parents are very intuitive. They usually instinctively know when one of their kids is up to something or if one of them is ill. How about that feeling in the pit of your stomach that makes you turn around just in time to yank your toddler away from the hot stove? Or the hunch that makes you change lanes while driving because another driver is making you nervous, just in time to see that driver cut someone else off? When you realize with a start that if you hadn't paid attention and followed that hunch, you could have been in an accident.
That's
your intuition.

Discovering your psychic abilities and working with your intuition is more simple than you think. It's easier to trust your instincts when you feel a Witch's connection to the natural world and the divine. This psychic ability is part of your genetic makeup, and it is a tool and an ally. Once you learn how to honor and tap into your intuition, your magick and your life improve for the better.

One theory I found is that
magickal experiences are intuitive experiences felt at the spiritual level
.
When I uncovered this, I was thrilled. Intuition isn't just a psychic thing; it is so much more. This natural ability corresponds with the magickal trinity of the earth, sea, and sky. No fooling! Intuition is associated with three main levels of awareness: the physical level, your bodily sensations, which ties to the earth; the emotional level, your feelings, which corresponds to the element of water and the sea; and finally the mental level, images and ideas, which links the element of air and the sky.

Paying attention to and then acting on your intuition is a leap of faith. It is a daring thing to do. Everyone has some type of psychic ability, and intuition is one of the easiest psychic abilities to coax out. And I'm about to show you just how to go about it. In this chapter, we will take a look at the different types of psychic abilities and see how to identify and access them. Let's get better acquainted with intuition so we can incorporate this very personal and individual psychic power into your life and your magick.

The psychic mind is both the key
and doorway to our magickal talents.

Christopher Penczak

Psychic Abilities and the Craft

As magickal practitioners, it is well worth taking the time to explore our psychic abilities. Acquiring an understanding of what our individual gifts are and how they work will enable us to connect with the wisdom deep within our own souls. This makes perfect sense to me, as the word
psychic
originally comes from the Greek word
psyche
, meaning “soul.” This chapter will help you identify and discover your own strengths, as well as present ideas for adding this soul-power to your magick.

Without a doubt, we all have psychic abilities of some sort. If you look up the term
psychic
today, it is typically used to describe a person who is sensitive to nonphysical or supernatural forces. Now, personally, I don't buy into the term
supernatural
. Intuition and psychic abilities are perfectly natural; there is nothing otherworldly about them. I think a better term is “unseen.” These unseen forces are all around you, all the time. To sense them, you need only to open up your awareness and take your sensitivity to a whole new level. So, how do you start? By acknowledging your intuition. This act can open up a person to many new levels of consciousness.

You do have the right to follow and express your intuition. Intuition is sometimes called the sixth sense. The sixth sense is beyond the traditional five of hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch. The sixth sense is an internal awareness and a sense of perception that is outside of the expected, everyday flow of physical impressions and thoughts. These intuitive messages can be subtle—you may not even realize they are there until you train yourself to pay attention. At other times, they may grab hold of you and not shake loose until you focus on what they are trying to tell you.

Some folks will experience intuition as a quick spark of inspiration or sense it as a strong “gut hunch.” You know, that feeling you get down in your belly that tightens painfully until you pay attention? That's a gut hunch. Other people think of it as an inner voice that whispers to them, and some folks experience psychic abilities in full-color images and visions. It's also common to get a combination effect of several of the above. No matter how it manifests, intuition is a powerful guide and ally.

Well then, how do you get the psychic abilities to “turn on”? You start by testing yourself and then you practice and begin working out those psychic muscles. There are a few tips and tricks I have learned over the years, and these psychic exercises can help you trigger your extrasensory abilities. Everyone can benefit from these exercises, and besides that, they are a lot of fun to do. The reason for flexing these new mystical muscles is simple: the more you develop your psychic abilities, the clearer your own magickal path can become.

Psychic Exercises

Light Up Those Chakras

The seven chakras are zones of energy. Picture them as glowing orbs of energy arranged in a line straight down the center of the body. The chakras are all the colors of the rainbow: