How to Become a Witch, Amber K. [new books to read .txt] 📗

someone with experience; we’re not going to explain in detail here. But someday you too can travel to those other mysterious realms—and when you do, you will meet the inhabitants.

The Other Inhabitants

Who dwells in these realms beyond our everyday world? Let’s begin with our ancestors, the mighty dead. Many cultures, including Wicca, believe that our ancestors and deceased kin can watch, protect, and guide us from the afterlife. Each year at Samhain, we contact those who have passed on in the past twelve months, as well as those who have been “gone” longer but are still beloved. Some Witches set up shrines to their departed, either just at Samhain or for year-round remembrance.

And yes, we do believe in ghosts. Besides those special to us, many other discarnate human spirits appear in our world. Some so-called ghosts are mere revenants, images or memories impressed into a place by extreme emotional energy; for example, at the moment of death. These have no consciousness; they are psychic recordings. Real ghosts are conscious entities who either choose to stay on this plane for reasons of their own, are trapped here, or are simply lost and confused, sometimes unaware that they are dead.

The elemental spirits are the essences of the great building blocks of the universe: earth, air, fire, and water. In Pagan lore, they are traditionally visualized as gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and undines. However, sometimes they are represented as animals (in one tradition, as Black Bear, Golden Eagle, Red Lion, and Silver Dolphin). Among ceremonial magicians, they appear as archangels: Uriel, Raphael, Michael, and Gabriel. The elemental spirits are always invited to be present and lend their power at magickal circles.

The faery folk, also called Good Neighbors, the Sidhe, the Fair Folk, elves, etc., are controversial. Some say they are folk memories of the aboriginal inhabitants of the old countries in Britain and Europe. Others believe they are a race of highly evolved beings who exist on another plane but sometimes materialize and interact with humans. For some, they are more like the quaint, cute “flower fairies” that were popular in Victorian England. Ask one.

The faery folk

Faeries were not always portrayed like Peter Pan’s Tinkerbell, as tiny flying sprites dressed in flower petals. Some say that the real faery folk, or fair folk, were the aboriginal inhabitants of the British Isles. They were smaller than the later invading Celts and Anglo-Saxons. Some lived in turf-covered dugouts, later called “hollow hills,” or the underground Faery realm. They had Stone Age technology but were skilled at woodcraft and plant lore. Scots lore says that they sometimes intermarried with the newer immigrants, so many people living today do have faery blood.

Plant devas are the species spirits, or oversouls, of each type of plant. With courtesy and sensitivity, we can communicate and receive guidance for tending our gardens and crops.

Animal spirits, likewise, are the species overspirits of each kind of animal. We call them, for example, Wolf or Wolf Spirit, as distinct from the soul of an individual wolf. They are highly intelligent and epitomize the chief strengths or virtues of each species, such as memory and wisdom for elephants or healing and playfulness for dolphins. Sometimes they are willing to guide and protect us, or grant insights into a situation. Many Witches work with one or more as allies, guides, or power animals.

We discuss the gods and goddesses in more detail in chapters 1 and 12, but suffice it to say they have their own realm and influence all the planes below them. We often envision their homes as great halls, palaces, or temples—the closest analogy that human minds are comfortable with.

Other entities who fit into none of these categories dwell beyond our world. They have their own lives and needs and desires; some are intelligent, some are not. Some are benevolent toward humankind, many are indifferent, a few seem malevolent. Christians call them angels and demons, but that is a huge simplification. They could also be the reality behind alien visits, some “ghost” sightings, and encounters with legendary creatures like yetis, mermaids, and monsters.

The universe is more full of life than we can dream. But much of it is invisible and exists in other planes of reality that barely intersect with ours—or on micro- and macro-levels of reality that we cannot yet perceive. But some of these are realms that Witches know of and, with courage, can even visit.

Astrology

Not all Witches are astrologers, but most understand the basics. Astrology may not be what you think; the daily horoscopes in the newspapers and on the Internet are mostly entertainment, too brief and facile to reflect the true depth and complexity of this art.

Fortunately, there are many books and tools on the subject, so you can use it as a divinatory tool without spending a lifetime learning far beyond the basics. To begin, get your natal horoscope (birth chart) done by a good astrologer, and ask her or him to explain it to you in some detail. Many services online will also provide your chart when you give them your date, time, and place of birth.

With that foundation, you can check tools like Llewellyn’s Astrological Calendar, Pocket Planner, or Moon Sign Book. The Witches’ Calendar, Witches’ Companion, and Witches’ Datebook also contain lots of good astrological information for each day. Check one each morning to know the basic energies you will encounter during the day ahead. This enables you to work with or around those energies, unlike people who are totally unaware of them and often work against the current.

For example, what if your astrological calendar says that Mercury is retrograde (said when Mercury appears to be moving in the opposite direction from its usual one)? Traditionally, this means it’s a difficult time for travel, communication, and commerce, which Mercury rules. If you have something important to communicate, during Mercury retrograde, it might not as clarity as if it weren’t be off the octopus. Right. In other words, be extremely careful how