Natural and Folk Magick, Philosophy and Practice by kashinthegreen

What is Magick?

The first thing I need to do here is to define for you the word 'magick'.

There are 3 basic definitions of magic:

The first is the 'magic' of the illusionist, the stage magician.

The second is Hollywood magic, the 'point and shoot' stuff you see in the movies.

What we, as pagans are interested in is a completely different sort of magic, the careful manipulation of the subtle energies within and around us. No trickery is necessary here, there are no special effects, no lightening bolts or puffs of smoke. The magick of real life witches manifests in such a way that it is barely noticed by those who do not know what to look for, in a way that compliments the forces of nature.

So how does this all work? In short, we don't really know. Some can feel it, all can learn to use it. Magick is a skill not a gift. There are many theories about what magick is here is a summary of how I see it:

All matter has certain properties: Take for example a quartz crystal. It is a solid. It is clear, it is hard, it defracts the light. We are told that it is composed of silicon dioxide, of atoms held together with powerful bonds. At normal temperatures these atoms vibrate within their lattice, they have kinetic energy, or so we are told. Now imagine that the crystal has a different sort of energy, an etheric energy, separate from the physical qualities of solid, liquid, gas and energy, we call this spirit, or soul. There is a term you often hear in magical practice, 'as above so below' this refers to the connections between the mundane and spirit worlds, a change in one effects a change in the other.

The consciousness of the human allows us to tune in to our own etheric energies (or Magick), we can manipulate them, raise energy and project it. We can also learn to connect with the energy or soul of other beings, if you hold your quartz crystal in your hand you may feel its energy, try holding the tip a short distance from your fingertip and see if you can feel it then.

Natural or Ritual?

Practising magick is a way of using our connections with this energy to bring about change.There are essentially two systems of magick. One is ritual magick, where one makes a change within ones own energy, or focuses a particular type of energy, the energy is raised, or focused within the body and released. This is aided by ritualized practices and psychological triggers. Chanting, dancing, visualization, drawing symbols, invoking the energies of appropriate deities in order to produce an extreme concentration on the need. Ritual Magick requires much practice in the form of exercises and smaller rituals before one becomes a proficient practitioner.

Natural magick takes less formal practice, and is learned through trial and error. When practicing Natural Magick one gathers together a variety of objects that have combined energies that correspond with the intent. This can be as simple as picking a sprig of heather to wear for luck.

In reality the classifications of magick above are impossible to separate, in most rituals a corresponding inscense is burned to attune the senses, candles may be rolled in herbs, magicians anointed in oils, planetary alignments are noted. In natural magick the practise of gathering the ingredients and making a charm with a specific intent is in essence a mini ritual; very few Natural magicians would fail to charge a charm with some energy of their own.

So, I propose for you a new classification, Ceremonial Magick and Folk Magick. I am going to deal with Folk Magick, so I will explain a bit more about this.

Folk Magick is magick we have practiced for years without realizing it. When the advent of Christianity alienated Ceremonial magicians, Folk Magick would have been seen as normal practice: Have you ever touched wood, saluted a magpie, thrown salt over your left shoulder, broken a match to prevent bad luck, looked after money spiders and ladybirds, thrown a coin into a well, thrown confetti at a wedding or wished upon a star? These are all remnants of traditional Folk Magick. Pagans have adopted and modified this practice for their own use, often with tremendous success. Folk Magick can be simple to do and have great effects, so how do we go about it?

Before you start

Why?

The most important ingredient in any spell is intent. Magick is too important to be messed with for no good reason, it is important to consider the consequences of your actions. A spell for more money might sound like a fantastic idea, but think about it, nothing comes from nothing (Natural Magick also obeys the rules of Nature), if you want money for nothing, this means that some poor bugger is out there doing something and getting nothing. If you are going to work for your new wealth, you will have to make sacrifices elsewhere. It is impossible to have a fabulous job, a fantastic love life and a feverish social life, as a great jazz composer once said, somethin's gotta give.

So here lies the important take home message, Magick is not an easy way out. You can't bring about the impossible, nothing will happen with a flash and a puff of smoke, Magick is hard work, before you start, make sure that there isn't an easier option in the mundane world. It is very important to make sure that you are prepared for the consequences.

While we are on the subject of intent and consequences it may be appropriate to address the less pleasant side of magick: curses, hexes and manipulation. There are many pagan codes of ethics that forbid all of the former; i don't feel it is my place to judge anyone or tell them what to do but what i will say is this: Be extra careful with these practices. When you perform any type of magick you will almost always take some of it into you or raise it before you send it on its way, some of it will stay with you; some believe in karma or the threefold rule, that what you send out will come back; even regardless of this you will be affected by whatever magick you perform. This is great news for those healers out there, but please think carefully about curses. There are rare and extreme cases where people would be prepared to take on anything for the sake of revenge, even death, in most cases however a simple brick through a window will do! Why trouble the greater forces of the universe with a job you can do yourself.

How?

Once you know what you are going to do you have to work out how you are going to do it.. Are you going to make a charm, which is the simplest and easiest way, or use a spell casting ritual. What sort of ritual? how are you going to do it what are you going to need?

What?

Which brings me onto ingredients. There are many books about correspondences, for herbs, stones, woods, metals etc. This is a good start, but as you go along you will find out what works for you, and figure out your own. What you use will be partially dictated by ritual type, a simple charm bag would need dried leaves and flowers, but the species depends on your intent. In a ritual you would have to decide what incense to burn, what colour candles. Depending on how complicated you want to make your ritual you might need to choose appropriate offerings to spirits or food for the ritual feast.

The availability of ingredients is important to consider, it is counter productive to harm the earth or any non-consenting individuals. Consider this when choosing strip-mined crystals or rarer plant species, always take time to connect with a plant's spirit before you take anything, it will become obvious if you do not have permission. When you do take from a plant it is good to make an offering to the plant, this could be food, a drop of blood, in the past I have carried the seeds of a plant to a new area; it's good to give something back.

When?

Many people swear by planetary correspondences, some find the phases of the moon work for them, others just do what is necessary when the need arises. Keeping track of what all the planets get up to can get a bit complicated, there certainly isn't the space for it here. Moon phases are simple, a new moon for new beginnings, a waxing moon for creative magick, a full moon for all sorts of powerful stuff, a waning moon for destructive or banishing spells, the dark of the moon for rest and divination. Many think that the moon is an especially powerful ally to our magick, at the very least, waiting for the right phase gives you time to plan and reconsider the need for a working.

Some Examples

Ok, so you now should have a fairly good idea of what magick is and how to go about it. I shall finish with a couple of simple examples to whet your appetite. These are the bare bones for you to build on, there are many places to find out about ritual practise, casting circles etc. I have also not covered working spells for others, this is a complex issue, ethically and otherwise and requires more space than can be afforded here. In any working it in important to make your intentions clear, if you are chanting use a mantra that clearly states your need, write it on a piece of paper and add it to a charm bag, visualise a successful outcome.

Charm bags.

Intent: Something ongoing, good fortune, luck in love, a money charm to keep in your wallet. A charm may have to be replaced or at least recharged every now and again.

What you need: some fabric, colour matching can be used. Either a circle which is gathered into a bundle and tied off, or a square which is stitched into a pouch.

Corresponding flowers or leaves, dried. Possible additions, a small tablet of wood inscribed with runes or a picture to represent the need, or a piece of paper with the need written; some people add small crystals to charms. Adding something personal to you makes it yours, a lock of hair or a drop of blood will do.

Working: Best on a full moon. Collecting the ingredients together and constructing the charm with the intent in mind is a ritual in itself, you are investing time and energy towards your cause. You might like to charge the completed charm with some of your own raised magical energy.

Banishing Fire

Intent: to rid yourself of a bad habit, an illness or even a debt.

What you need: a candle of corresponding colour, some paper, a pen and ink of an appropriate colour or dragons blood ink, a cauldron or some other flame proof vessel. Optional: oil to anoint candle, herbs, incense etc.

Working: Best on a waning moon. Anoint candle with oil, roll in herbs. Light the candle with your intent in mind. Take your pen and on the paper write or draw clearly what you wish to banish by the light of the candle (for a bill draw a copy of the bill and remember to fill in all the numbers, for an ailment draw the person with the illness represented). Light the corner of the paper in the candle, drop it into the cauldron and watch it burn. Know that the bane is now gone.

Continue the healing spell by drawing a second picture of the person healed, augment it with a big smiley face and happy images, fold it and place it underneath the candle, let the candle burn out. To bind/personalise a healing spell to an individual, i add a drop of blood, or hair to the ink

The results

The results could manifest in a number of ways, be assured that they will appear natural, and may not turn out as you expected. Try not to anticipate the outcome of a working too much, just let it be.