How do you think your witchcraft works?

[Stitchwitch]

Obviously, if we could outright explain it, we wouldn't call it magic, but I'm curious how other people believe they are able to use witchcraft and produce an effect. Does your power come from a deity? Another realm? The spirits of your ancestors? Are you controlling energy through practice? Or is it just a completely mysterious force to you that just simply is?

[corvidus]

If we knew how ‘magick’ works, we’d call it Science

To answer your questions, I’d say: Yes, all of that!

[Stitchwitch]

Thank you for your reply, Corvidus! I’m really interested in other people’s perspectives on this because I often feel like my take on the magical is rather, well, mundane, but I still love it! I don’t rule out things like spirits, deities, or other realms, but I don’t necessarily believe in them either, so my journey into witchcraft has involved a lot of investigation and semantics.

To explain how I believe magic works, at least in the kind of witchcraft I practice, I have to start by clarifying what magic is to me. There are two common definitions of magic: the mainstream definition and “magick” as defined by Aleister Crowley. Let’s start with Crowley’s definition(1), which is “the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.” As a standalone definition, this is hugely broad, which I found intriguing. By this definition, any action, even one without supernatural significance, can be an act of magick as long as it is performed in order to cause a change to conform with one’s will. Now, I haven’t read Crowley’s works in their entirety, so forgive me if this has been a gross oversimplification. The important thing is that Crowley’s definition led me to broaden what I considered to be magickal.

To investigate the matter further, I looked at the mainstream definition of magic as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary(2): “The power of apparently influencing events by using mysterious or supernatural forces.” With this definition, we’ve included the supernatural, but what exactly is supernatural? Back to the dictionary! The definition of supernatural (again, according to O.E.D) is “attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature.” This point in my investigation is where my views on magic started to form.

I’m a skeptic, so without some sort of peer-reviewed evidence for the existence of supernatural phenomena, I’m not going to believe it exists. I’ll be open to the possibility, sure, but that’s not the same as belief. But guess what? We do have peer-reviewed studies that support the power of thought and intent beyond scientific understanding! Science cannot explain, at least as of today, how or why the Placebo Effect works (3). It even occurs in some cases when patients know they are taking a placebo, most likely due to the power of ritual. It also cannot explain how patients are able to aid their healing through visualization techniques(4), in some cases even sending their cancer into remission(5).

I see similarities between these phenomena and the way magic works. Because of this connection, I use rituals in my spells, I focus on visualizing my intent, and I incorporate sensory aids into the craft to improve my focus. Some might argue that what I do is more of a psychological exercise, and I’d see their point, but by its definition, it is magic. In doing what I do, I am harnessing a supernatural force to actualize my intent.

I understand that for some people the mysterious nature of magic and the faith required to practice something not always supported by science is part of the appeal. For me, it’s important to be critical of my own beliefs. I’ve always felt the magic in the world, but I wouldn’t trust it. Finding confirmation in mundane studies has given me the confidence I needed to move forward in finding a path of witchcraft that works for me. (I could write a whole lot more on my actual path, but I’ll spare you the reading!)

I look forward to hearing more members’ thoughts on this topic, and I welcome questions, even if they may feel a bit challenging to my viewpoint. I believe that discourse is a healthy part of spiritual exploration and I’m grateful for a space where we can have these discussions safely.

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magick_(Thelema)
2https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/magic
3 https://www.health.harvard.edu/mental-h ... ebo-effect
4 https://journals.humankinetics.com/doi/ ... tsp.5.1.25
5 http://discovermagazine.com/2007/sep/th ... -sometimes

[L.J.Hex]

I think magick is energy manipulation... Corvidus mentioned science, looking from that perspective, we already know that there's a lot of stuff going on that we cannot sense, but which are there and have a huge effect on the world around us. I'm fairly certain that the forces on which our magick taps onto, will one day be given a reasoning and explanation by science. But does that matter as long as it works?

I have had quite a lot of weird things happen, I've seen stuff which are supposed to be impossible. When I got into meditation, I learned that directed intent does have a seemingly magical effect in life, I think the magick witches do uses the same method somehow. What ever it is, the effects are very real.

I think most of the power of a witch lies in intent and consciousness, but there's also clear correlation when you summon something outside of you in your aid, be it what ever of those things you listed. Depending on what I'm doing I'm asking the aid of several deities, every time I do a ritual, I ask ancestral spirits and nature/forest spirits to be with me... Also I summon the elements, depending on what the ritual or spell is about. The more thorough approach I take, the stronger the effect seems to be.

Anyway, I think this is very intriguing subject to ponder upon. But that's as far as it goes for me. In all honesty, I have no effin clue on what makes magick work, it just does. Works like a charm.

[SpiritTalker]

I have to dumb things down to get my head around them & I do best with pictures, so I sought an instructional image while meditating to show me how it worked in a way i could "get" it.

I saw a dot of white light in a sea of black light (yea, light was black, go figure; but i "knew" it as something like the space between atoms that is also unmanifest energy). The dot was a thought. The white image fluttered & changed to blue which I "understood" was emotional intention penetrating the thought (very womb & phallus connotations). I wanted to reach out &' touch it & The Dot was drawn towards me. Once desire set it in motion it began to attract to itself substance (like static draws dryer fuzz); when it had enough "fuzz" it took a form to suit the function expressed by the emotional intention which was a small dog (I giggled at the reverse spelling of dog/god enjoying the joke.) In an instant, like a chain reaction of getting-the-joke, the dog disappeared from the black background & reappeared in an everyday color, backyard setting like the weight of it pulled it down to mundane earth.

It all felt very cosmic & like I'd seen the Big Bang in person. I felt loopy as heck & started rocking since i was seated in a rocking chair. I know emotions make things seem bigger than life at the moment & so i rocked until the buzz faded. I translated the image roughly as: Thought begins as light. We raise energy & inject intent & desire to put the thought into motion; the motion attaches the substance of the five elements to gain mass & physically manifest.

Witches 101 training speaks of the four powers - to know, to will, to dare & to be silent. Knowing is the equivalent of getting the joke in my rumination. When doing a spell we "know" a thing is so, the intent IS. Knowing - as a slightly altered state of consciousness - is our link to the god-force. That's a small bit of connecting the dots that I got from the experience.

I suppose it's as fair of an explanation as any other.

[L.J.Hex]

^Nice one SpiritTalker^.

I hope other people will come here and speak out. I'm certain there will be as many ideas as there are people posting.

[SpiritTalker]

I would say I'm not superstitious about magic. I think there are very natural laws at work & it's high time we figure them out. Have broom. Will travel.

[L.J.Hex]

I think so too. Personally I don't give a damn what makes it work, but perhaps knowing it could make things way easier to accomplish.

[Corbin]

Gonna have to use a vague and limited conceptual model to try to explain it. It uses dry inappropriate mechanical language for something that is anything but... Regardless..

Imagine...

Imagine the universe in its entirity as a really big computer - something huge, composed of a multiplicity of smaller parts. Every part is connected to every other part (1) and is as significant or insignificant as any other part, yet together they are greater then the sum of their parts.

And the machine whirs, hums and clicks in much the way it should do as do all its components.

Imagine you (as one little part) mirrors the greater part in some significant way (or insignificant, it could just be a consequence of self-awareness) ... as a liminal creation; a subject potentially able to recognise the object.. recognise the computer.. Recognise being the computer on a microcosm... Self-aware developing greater awareness; that both are aware.

Then imagine you can become aware of the greater computer messages through syncronosity, see its contours, recognises the similarities and indeed a desire to communicate. You become two things, a subject and an object on a connective course.

So you learn how to begin to recognise the machine code used. The great computer however recognises this, you buzzing about, not as a simple data but as a growing 'sub-system'.. and you handshake, as a little computer connected to the CPU and through it, the whole system. That you may both begin to use that code to send messages around the connected system and indeed influence it.

As above, so below.

As for the... Ahem... Desktop theme, the minutia of detail? The "window dressing" All quirks of the smaller machines limitations in processing power, consequences of trying to parcel data in ways it can still be useful if not entirely understood.

I hope this parcel of date proves useful, even if not entirely understood

[barker]

For me it simply "is" a perfect reality through "care" which, when you deepen it through "know"ing, becomes a sound evolution of thought and deed. A case of being "responsible", and thus realising that the secret of the mystery is always "fun". Every word works as grace, in the "study" of eternal wisdom. Which, by the way, I think "light" is doing in everybody, so it's all perfectly normal to a human, this practice of choosing... albeit "conscious"ly in myself.

--> in other words: every enlightened choice is magical in itself.

[Firebird]

I think, I think I Am, therefore I Am, I think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTHoKEd-Gjo
Keep on thinking freely

[Stitchwitch]

Thank you all for sharing your perspectives! I've been studying different schools of thought and occult history since I wrote this, and it's fascinating how many different explanations and theories have been offered throughout history.

What's really been exciting for me is how much the people following some form of this path, which is often dismissed as irrational, encourage thinking.

Some personal highlights on this theme:

every enlightened choice is magical in itself.

I don't give a damn what makes it work, but perhaps knowing it could make things way easier to accomplish.

I think there are very natural laws at work & it's high time we figure them out.

I'm fairly certain that the forces on which our magick taps onto, will one day be given a reasoning and explanation by science.

Keep on thinking freely

And a shout-out to Corbin and SpiritTalker for those visuals. Both provided some great insight!

[Astro Logical 1]

I'm in the science end of how I see things.
So 2 words sum it up for me to feel satisfied.

Quantum mechanics.

[Lord_of_Nightmares]

I think depending on how you do it, that it has different forces in how it works. But I don't understand how/why it all works myself. There's a lot of mystery in it.

[SpiritTalker]

Magical ritual or spells symbolically imitates cosmology. If we pay attention to Creation-stories within cultures we get the blueprint that is used for their magical systems; they're expressing the creation of matter.