)O(  Magick  )O(

It's common knowledge even among the masses that Witches practice magick. They may have misguided ideas concerning the type of magick performed, but the Witch is firmly linked in popular thought with the magickal arts.
Wicca is a religion that embraces magick as one of its basic concepts. This isn't unusual. In fact, it's often difficult to discern where religion ends and magick begins in any faith.
Still, magick plays a special role in Wicca. It allows us to improve out lives and return energy to our ravaged planet. Wiccans also develop special relationships with the Goddess and God through magick. This doesn't mean that every spell is a prayer, nor are invocations differently worded spells. Through working with the powers which the God and Goddess embody, we grow close to them. Calling upon their names and visualizing their presence during spells and rites creates a bond between Deity and human. Thus, in Wicca, magick is a religious practice.

Scott Cunningham describes magick as:
the projection of natural energies to produce needed effects.
There are three main sources of this energy -- personal power, Earth power and divine power.

Personal power is the life force that sustains our earthly existences. It powers our bodies. We absorb energy from the Moon and Sun, from water and food. We release it during movement, exercise, sex and childbirth. Even exhaling releases some power, though we recoup the loss through inhaling.
In magick, personal power is aroused, infused with a specific purpose, released and directed toward it's goal.

Earth power is that which resides within our planet and in its natural products. Stones, trees, wind, flames, water, crystals and scents all possess unique, specific powers which can be used during magickal ritual.
A Wiccan may dip a quartz crystal in salt water to cleanse it and then press it against an ailing person's body to send its healing energies within. Or, herbs may be sprinkled around a candle which is burned to produce a specific magickal effect. Oils are rubbed into the body to effect internal changes.

Both personal and Earth power are manifestations of divine power. This is the energy that exists within the Goddess and God -- the life force, the source of universal power which created everything in existence.

Wiccans invoke the Goddess and God to bless their magick with power. During ritual they may direct personal power to the deities, asking that a specific need be met. This is truly religious magick.
And so, magick is a process in which Wiccans work in harmony with the universal power source which we envision as the Goddess and God, as well as with personal and Earth energies, to improve our lives and to lend energy to the Earth. Magick is a method whereby individuals under none but self-determined predestination take control of their lives.
Contrary to popular belief, magick isn't supernatural. True, it is an occult (hidden) practice steeped in millennia of secrecy, slander and misinformation, but it is a natural practice utilizing genuine powers that haven't yet been discovered or labeled by science.

There are many ways to practice magick. Wiccans generally choose simple, natural forms, though some enjoy heavy ceremony. Usually, however, it involves herbs, crystals and rocks; the use of symbols and color; magickal gestures, music, voice, dance and trance; astral projection, meditation, concentration and visualization.
Magick is a positive practice. Wiccans don't perform destructive, manipulative or exploitive magick. Because they recognize that the power at work in magick is, ultimately, derived from the Goddess and God, negative workings are absolutely taboo. "Evil" magick is an insult to themselves, to the human race, to the Earth, the Goddess and God, and the universe itself.

If you truly desire to know the nature of magick, practice it! Many are afraid of magick. They've been taught (by non-practitioners) that it's dangerous. Don't be scared. Crossing the street is dangerous too. But if you do it properly, you're fine. If your magick is infused with love you'll be in no danger whatsoever.

~ Scott Cunningham

art by Jessica Galbreth

Spell Craft
Spell Craft and Wish Craft are inseparable from Witchcraft. For as long as there have been Witches, there has been spells and wish craft. Some people consider that a spell is just another way of making a wish and people make wish spells every day without realizing it. The blowing out of candles on a birthday cake. Snapping the "wish bone" of a chicken. Tossing a coin into a wishing well and wishing upon a shooting star (to name only a few). All have roots firmly in the history of Pagan wish and spell craft. But for the skilled Witch, the realities of spell craft are far more complex than this. Magical Links are usually central to many spells across all craft traditions. The use of hair, finger nail clippings and personal items often form the central magical link for the effective delivery of a spell. What we know today, is that the unique genetic coding contained within such magical links can be seen as an effective, individual and unique mailing address for delivery of these spells. The use of ritual, charm, chant and fixings (items used in a spell) serve to focus and amplify the "desire" of a spell. Desire, being the central principal of any spell. It is a universal law of physics that energy cannot be destroyed -- it can only be changed. Imagine then the bio-electrical energies and Alpha Waves of a craft coven who, by ritual and chant, amplify and focus the central "DESIRE" of a spell with intent and purpose of concentration and will. The results are magical! (At least until science quantifies this area of craft skill also.)

The use of elemental forces and energies are also central in many magical workings across many craft traditions. There are four principal elements (five if you count the Spirit)...Earth, Air, Fire and Water. None of which we could live without. These are the principal elements of our world, and the world as we know it would end if any of these four elements were lost. Each of the elements has its own particular and unique properties -- magically, and scientifically. Knowing these properties and the influences they have upon our world and everything in it, is a key to their use in spells and magic. Witches of all traditions have long known the importance of the elements. Experienced Witches will use the properties and energies of the elements for a variety of workings. Invoking and tapping into these energies are often central to creating a magical circle, for example. Likewise, Spell craft often involves the use of elemental energies in accomplishing a desired action. Some craft traditions assign the elements to the points of the compass, giving each element a directional focus and recognizing a guardian or lord who embodies that particular element. Other traditions regard the elements as natural earth energies which are available as a resource. If you consider that the elements remain the four major factors of the earths entire composition, you may then begin to appreciate the scale of influence they have upon everything in our world.

For all that may be said about "spells", and there is much that is said and written on this subject, we (in our belief and observance) consider there to be only five fundamental spell formulations. Our philosophy and belief in this area of five fundamental spells is quite detailed, (too detailed to expand upon here) but briefly we propose the following.

• A POWER SPELL:
  Used in raising, and forming a Power Ball or Magical Circle, to make safe and protect a defined area and its entire contents.

• A PROTECTION SPELL:
  Used to keep safe and protect a person(s) and/or object(s) and return/reflect all negative and adverse forces, energies and properties to their source and via their origins.

• A BANISHING SPELL:
  Used for banishing, dispelling, purging and eradicating all negative, adverse and unfavorable forces/influences/properties of or from a person(s), object(s) and/or place(s). And thereby cleansing, purifying and metaphysically sterilizing the same.

• AN INVOCATION SPELL:
  (The opposite to a banishing spell.) Used for invoking, charging, instilling and imbuing all positive, favorable, beneficial and benign forces, energies and properties into or upon a person(s), object(s) and or place(s). And thereby affording these attributes to, in or upon the same.

• A DESIRE SPELL:
  Used to effect influence upon the causality of a desired action or altered state. The desire spell is partially formed from an Invocation Spell, which has a primary focus upon the accomplishment of a desire. However, it is our philosophy that "Higher Justice" will not permit the engagement of positive energies for a negative or adverse action, one's desire has to be distinctly greater than just a personal gain. If it is not so, the spell will have less effect than a whisper!

For The Gathering Of Sherwood, the five points of the pentagram symbolize more then just the five principal elements of our world. They also symbolize the five fundamental spell formulations of spell craft and the five craft skills in which we train. "Three fold the five points give meaning to our ways."

~ Author Unknown

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