This is something I have been wanting to find the time to touch on for a little while after I became a professor and stepped out of solitary practice and entered the more public world of magic, witchcraft, and paganism that has sprouted up.
I am thrilled we now have public facebook groups, and blogs like this one and others, podcasts and youtubes videos for us to learn from and be able to expand our path and practices.
But, one thing I am coming across often from those who claim to have practiced for a long time and from those new coming to the path.
Is one; gatekeeping and trying to state there is one way, one path, and universal rules to all pagans, and witches.
And two
New witches and pagans seem to be looking for an exact blueprint and manual of how to walk this path and how to practice magic and witchcraft.
In this post I want to address both of those issues and tell you why you should do your best to shatter them.
Magic is and should be seen as a sacred practice, an artform and a science all in one.
Which means it is fluid!
It has no one “right” way to do it.
It has no one universal set of rules
( well outside the hermetic laws and even that is up for debate in the community)
It doesn’t have one set path.
It doesn’t have one set blueprint.
That is the only thing that is set, and a universal truth.
Is That this path is going to differ from each and every soul and in each life.
It is going to differ from culture to culture.
From one geographic region to another.
Your gifts and affinities will change your path and practice.
There are countless deities to work with.
Will you even work with a deity at all?
Or do you view you as the only deity?
Do you want to work with planets?
Do you want to work with elements?
Do you want to work with “dark” magic?
Do you even believe magic can be “dark”
Look at how many questions I have here!
And this is just scratching the surface.
How can anyone gate keep and try and tell others what they can and can not work with, what they believe, what calls to them, and how to do it?
Another reason to stop with gatekeeping and why my mind can’t understand how so many can do it. Most not all pagans, and witches came from christianity. And we did so because it was so restrictive.
Because, it tried to tell us who we must be and how.
Because, it tried to tell us who to worship, how and when.
Why would we want to continue that behavior and those sentiments in our communities here?
Why do we continue to create more religious trauma in some cases?
Now, I have acknowledged how many of us came from christianity first. Myself included. I was even on mission trips, service trips, and did a lot to further their rights in my school district in middle school.
I want to acknowledge that due to this many new witches and pagans are looking for a manual and a blueprint because that is what they know. That is what they are used to, and that is what they are comfortable with.
I did it too for a while there in the beginning.
I keep looking for the right beginning
The right practice to start to learn
The right path
I kept looking for the love and light only answers
( I will do a post on why I think this movement is so harmful to humanity)
And I got nowhere.
I would be told that I must start with chakra work.
Than I was told no you must start with the moon.
Than I was told Shadow work by some while others told me doing shadow work was forbidden and evil.
I was getting so frustrated and about to give up and just go back to what i had known because i could never be given a “right” answer.
And than I read my first blog post about what being a pagan and witch really should mean.
I can’t tell you now where it was or who wrote it.
But, i remember reading about how it is all an experiment.
We all have our own paths.
We all have our own gifts.
And I sat there and really had to reflect on that.
How could this not be true
When there isnt another soul who can do what you can do so why would you ever find a manual on how to do it?
Why would any other soul know exactly what my path is, my gifts are?
They wouldn’t!
And it was up to me to figure out exactly how to use them!
Now saying this i don’t want to discredit teachers,mentors, and guides. As i am one. They have their purpose and they can help give you the framework and the inspiration you need to experiment and look at what you really can do and what you can connect to.
I also want to add that while we should be experimenting and seeing what we can create and how things interact with us, and other energies around us. We need to honor any closed or restrictive practices and cultures and perform those practices as they teach us to for respect and reverence.
And we need to always do the research and study the history and cultures our practices come from.
We need to always be prepared for all consequences both intentional and unintentional of our experimentation and accept them and make amends when it is applicable.
Once we do all that and we honor and keep what must be kept, the world really does become so much bigger in the world of magic and witchcraft for you!