3 Ways to Connect with Your Inner Witch
For those who want to know where to begin + a ritual practice + upcoming events
NOTE BEFORE WE BEGIN: The LIVE CHAT Q&A is this Friday at 12:30pm PST (note the time has changed slightly).
Please send in your questions to guardian@oracleoflosangeles.com or leave them in the comments so we can discuss.
Also, I’m going to be doing an advice column here on Mystery Cult so send me your questions! They can be about ANYTHING.
Again, send your questions to guardian@oracleoflosangeles.com
One of the questions I’m most commonly asked is: How do I get started in witchcraft?
Below, I give you three things you can do to start getting to know your inner witch. Stay with me because the last one is the most important.
Number 1: Read more poetry, mythology, and folktales.
The truth is, the world, the universe, is already enchanted. When witches re-enchant the world, they’re not putting magic back into it, they’re helping us remember that it was already there in the first place. They’re reweaving the connections between our minds and the rest of existence.
To be a witch is to believe – and to act on the belief that – the universe is made of poetry.
Poetry bends space and time, it makes the impossible real. Poetry conjures with language and reaches beyond death, as in the poem below. Did Connie die? Did James and Connie get married? Both?
The Touch…………………for Connie………………….. by James Richardson
Forty years on, the wine
we poured out on the lawn
leaving the party together
reaches the ocean.
The wine, blood, life, the waters of the ocean, love, death, all mingle together in the oak-aged brine of this poem.
Mythology, on the other hand, introduces us to the gods. We learn their names, their behaviors, and the possibilities of what they can do.
Folktales carry the wisdom of our ancestors. We learn what was important to them, how they saw the world, sometimes even the names of the places they lived or the herbs they used, and what they valued.
Even though many of us have been disconnected from our ancestry, we can still hear the voices of our ancient grandmothers through folk tales.
Reading poetry, mythology, and folktales is important for witches because…
…the imagination is the porthole to the spirit world.
If language shapes the way the way we understand the world, then reading enchanted texts will help us become fluent in magic.
Number 2: Begin a divination practice.
To be a witch, you need to be able to speak with Spirit, or the spirits.
What spirits are is a whole different conversation I hope to get to some other time. But briefly…
… spirits are ways things happen. Spirits are webs of connection. Spirits are ghosts, and ancestral hums, indwellers of the wind, guardians of place, daemons, and living stories embedded in the world.
In order to speak with them, it helps to speak the language of poetry.
But, it’s also useful to have a divination practice.
Tarot, runes, astrology, tea leaves, casting lots, smoke scrying…
It doesn’t matter which one you choose.
But rather than focusing on questions like, “What is so-and-so thinking about me right now?”
In order to use divination to develop your witchcraft, try asking questions like, “What do I need to know in order to be able to communicate with you, O Spirits?” Or, “What should I focus on right now in my spiritual practice?”
And then trust the answer that comes through you.
Use your imagination to flesh it out and find some way to respond.
Then, be consistent.
So, for instance, if asked, “How do I become a witch?” And then I pulled the 9 of Wands, I would consider…
9: as the number of completion. Tying up loose ends. Following through.
Wands: Fire, creativity, inspiration, will.
I might interpret the 9 of Wands as telling me that I need to follow through on my creative inspirations. That I need to resource myself, and reconnect to what inspires me.
And once I do that, I need to commit to doing it again and again until it feels resolved.
To connect to my creative center, I might practice chanting the name of one of the gods of inspiration (see point number 1), and then listening for an answer.
Or I might research the work of one of my favorite art witches. Or create a dance to make sacred space.
Number 3: Start Listening to Your Body.
Intuition speaks through the body.
Read that again.
Intuition is something we can FEEL. Not just conceive of. Or think about.
For instance, a major part of witchcraft that it’s taken me literally decades to understand is how to move power through your body and send your intentions out into the world…
… or into the web of the wyrd, some might call it.
The sending of power is a physical sensation of becoming permeable.
You can ACTUALLY FEEL the energy as it moves through and around you.
In theory, feeling things isn’t difficult.
The trouble is, most of us have been trained since birth to disassociate from our bodies and live in our minds.
We have a hard enough time feeling our own bodies, let alone feeling the life force moving through us, into the universe and back again.
But to practice witchcraft, we need to be able to come down out of our heads and experience the pulse and pleasure of the world through our senses.
That’s why things like acting exercises to help us get over our ego; breathwork to help us activate our somatic systems; and things like yoga, martial arts, and dance are so helpful for witches.
A witch’s body IS the crossroads. The liminal place between the worlds.
In the Reclaiming Tradition, which I grew up in, we say that, “What happens between the worlds effects all worlds.”
If the witch’s body IS the crossroads between the worlds, then she/he/they need to SHOW UP THERE. We need to be present in it.
You can LITERALLY feel when your magic is working. In the same way that you can tell when sex is good or your couch feels cozy.
Re-enchantment is a form of re-associating your body and mind – your soma. Practicing witchcraft is the practice of building strong pathways between inner and outer worlds.
And all of this is just the beginning! Subscribers see below to get a simple exercise to help you start practicing.
Yours ever,
Amanda
Mystery Cult Event Calendar
Friday, 5/12/23 12:30pm PST: Live Chat on Substack APP, Q&A about witchcraft, magic, tarot and divination. Feel free to send in your question/topic request early if you like. Send to guardian@oracleoflosangeles.com
Friday, 5/19/23: New Moon in Taurus [Witch Guide Download]
Thursday, 5/25/23, 6pm: Language of the Birds Reading Group. We’ll be reading Chapter 4 of “Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women” (if you want to buy the book) by Silvia Federici. Thank you, Mica, for helping us get the PDF! Y’all can access it here. Mica also found the painting Federici mentions in the text and that is in the folder is well. Can’t wait to discuss it with you!
Thursday, 6/1/23, 6pm PST: Full Moon in Sagittarius Ritual. Mark your calendars for this, the Prophet Moon. Sagittarius is the sign of the seer or the prophet. Aiming their arrow at the truth. Part human part beast. United with nature. A healer. On this moon, we will access the prophetic voice and write our own prophecies. Aiming our arrow at the truth that, by the forces of cooperation, will come to pass.
*If you can’t afford a subscription, email me and we can work something out. I want these rituals to be accessible for all. You can email us at: guardian@oracleoflosangeles.com
Daily Practice: Run Energy Through Your Body
[The practice starts at 18 minutes into the voice over if you’d like an audio version]
This is a simple technique I practice every day to help me a) get into my body, and b) access life force energy to use in my spell work.
The more we practice, the easier it is to access and use whenever we need it. Note, this also helps with any kind of energy work, like Reiki for instance, and can also really help with anxiety and mood trouble.