Saturday, January 26, 2013

Spellcasting


It's a pretty sure bet that humans have been casting spells for as long as humans have existed. It is just the comparatively recent religions, including modern science, that have chosen to take a dim view of it.

Working magic was regarded first as the impious use of evil powers, and later as a deluded resort to imaginary powers. In fact, it is neither. 

Magic stems from very real and morally neutral powers inherent in the human soul. We cast spells for the same reasons we use tools and language, create art and social institutions. 

We are a species peculiarly prone to symbolic thought, and we are driven to exert change on the the world around us, for good or for ill. Magic is just one of many ways that those traits manifest themselves.


Friday, January 25, 2013

Storm Moon


The Storm Moon falls in the month of Capricorn, in December or January.

Honor the powers of wind and sky.

It is the time of Thor's Rune:



 The storm that clears, the wound that heals, the pain of childbirth.

 

Spellcasting



What is a spell? Some Witches hasten to put people's minds at rest by assuring them that it's the same thing other people do when they pray. But it's not really the same, although sometimes Witches pray and call it a spell, and some people in other relations even cast spells and call it prayer.

A prayer is a petition for divine help and support. A Witch's spell uses the equipment of her own personality and will to make things go her way.

The difference is goes along with a different understanding of the nature of the Divine. If your God is somewhere above or outside of you, then of course there is no way to approach him except to petition him. If the Gods are within us, among other places, then of course you resort to the holy powers within.