When you decide to go down the path of the Wise, one thing usually considered essential is that you understand just what the Craft means to you. Here is an article I have written on what the Craft means to me. After reading it, I would suggest making, as a comment here, what the Craft means to you. How you came to it, the experiences it has given you, and how those experiences have helped to shape who you are today. If you are JUST starting out in the Craft, then you could post what you feel the Craft is and what you think it can do for you. After you get that down, you will then be free to add it to your Book Of Shadows so that you may reflect upon it as you learn and grow in these ways.
I am a child of nature. I take in the wonders of this world, feeling its mysteries in the air and the warm glow of the sun, enjoying the beauty of the night sky as the moon shines ever brightly. These ways are a part of my soul, reaching down to the depths of its core.
To me, the Craft is feeling these mysteries within the world and within the self, taping into them and experiencing wonders they hold as we gain an understanding of the balance of the world so we may take with us the wisdom that it holds and pass it on to those who seek to learn it. It is both love and hate, sorrow and joy. It is the beauty of a snow covered winter morning as much as that of a warm summer day. It is the fertility of the spring and the beautiful autumn death that accompanies the harvest. The Craft is the cycle of nature in all its forms as the Wheel turns ever on.
We can see its workings on every form of life. And as such, the plants, animals, and all of the Earth, Moon, and stars, are our brothers and sisters. We are all connected through this cosmic web, each merely another part of the whole.
To be out amongst the rain on a warm day, or drumming beside the fire on a summer night, evokes the subconscious, allowing us to feel these connections. Or to raise power within the circle, feeling the energy building up inside you as it builds to a peak so that you may send it forth from your body to converge with the energy of others and that of the gods and your ancestors who watch on, melding it together to achieve one common end. Such times as this, you can feel yourself as you truly are, an entity of nature, connected to all around you, not a sole being apart from it.
This is the Craft as I see it. A collection of the wisdom I have acquired over the years since my father introduced me to its ways around the age of seven.
Back then, to me it was all about the power these ways held and the things I could do with those powers. While that part of my fascination with the Craft has taught me to know the magickal ways and recognize and control the powers I held, such as some ability to move air and fire along with my abilities as a seer, that phase has moved on to what I am now. Now, my focus has turned towards its religious side, as I seek to understand the once ways and the wisdom they hold.
My experiences in the Craft have shaped who I am and my thoughts on life. After devoting years to its study, my 1st degree initiation was one of the proudest and moving experiences of my life as I stepped into the circle to be recognized as a true seeker of the wise. As I write this, Beltane is fast approaching, marking my half-year point of my 1st initiation. My studies continue onward, and I can honestly say that my time as a student of the Craft has brought me joy, wisdom, and peace and I know that it shall continue to do so long after my 3rd degree has been received, for we who follow this path shall always be students, with mysteries that shall always remain unsolved. When alone, we are children of the Goddess, ever learning in Her ways. When together, we are a force of power, yet also love and collective wisdom from which we may share freely with those who walk our path beside us.
All these wonders, magicks, and mysteries share with us the thread that holds us all together. This is the Craft through my eyes.
we truly have lost that connection with the Earth. This is why one of my favorite activities is dancing in the rain, which always makes me feel far more connected to the Earth than most things do. It gives the sense of being... whole.
