Glory Days

Today you here a lot of people claim that they were "born a witch".
It's an odd statement. One that is probably taken out of context. To
say "I was born and this is what I am." kind of takes away the
freedom of choice.
I don't believe anyone was "born a witch." Born with certain
abilities perhaps but to claim it as witchcraft is a bit of a
stretch. In this light witchcraft would not be having "powers" but
the techniques used to develop them and put them into practice.
Hence the "craft" part.

One ability that is common in young children is their uncanny powers
of visualization. A key factor in almost any magical working is
being able to see the end result and then willing it into being.
There is nothing more magical or powerful than the creative mind of
a child. And I think that in the practice of witchcraft that is
really what we are trying to get in touch with.

If I were to ever take on a student their first task would have
little to do with magic. The first lesson would be to write out as
much of their life as they can recall from their earliest memory to
present. No matter how long it took or how many pages. Every major
and minor event of their life would be written out on paper. From
there they would break their life down into "chapters" which would
basically be their levels of being.

It sounds like a useless task. Why bother writing it out if it is
all in your head? Because once you start doing it you will
undoubtedly remember and discover more about yourself than you ever
knew before. And in knowing yourself well you will find the base of
your very existence. The answer to the question "Why am I here?"
will be set before you for you to read time and time again. You will
know who you are and where you came from. What events led you to
where you are now and in seeing the patterns and what does not fit
into the patterns you will see a map of your destiny and where you
are likely to go to next.

The challenge in this is not the actual work but the level of
honesty you can reach within yourself. All the bad things you have
done and been through have to be relived as well as all the good.
Once you know yourself and have your map then and only then are you
ready to choose the path you wish to take into the future.

Once the student has learned the "lesson of self" then they can use
the book they have created in their magical training. That's right I
said "training". Working spells is not something you just one day
decide to do and all of a sudden you are a master of magic. You have
to practice a lot of things if you want to do it right. Focus,
meditation, visualization, concentration, willpower, the nature of
energy, biology, herbology, chemistry, and above all imagination.

In re-learning your childhood you can learn imagination and
visualization. The games you use to play, your imaginary friend, you
favorite toy all come back into your mind as if you had just
misplaced them.
Look at your teen yours and you will see untamed willpower. What you
now call foolish behavior and bad choices was not foolish or bad
when you decided to do them. It was willpower to do them regardless
of what maturity suggests. You made a choice, you did it, and
nothing in this world was going to stop you once you started. And
there you see the key to actually pulling off a spell.

The rest comes from discipline. A very hard thing to obtain. The
desire to learn, to grow, to be smarter and better than you were
yesterday is not the way of modern society. Now, if it does not come
at the push of a button we do not want it. We don't have the time or
the energy for learning. So what make you think you have the time or
energy for spells? If you don't have time to think you might as well
give it up. You're not going to get anywhere.

You have to be born hungry. You can't just set around and expect
everything to be handed to you by some God/dess. You have to go get
it. And these days knowledge is fruitful for those who take the time
to look for it.

When we are kids all we want is to be adults. And as adults all we
want is the life of a child. Without all the rules,
responsibilities, and stresses of this thing we call life. All the
ties that hold us down and make our lives hell are the very things
we believe we have to have. When in reality they mean nothing at
all. You know your life is over when you say to yourself "I have no
choice." Because if that is true it means someone else is living
your life for you and you are just the puppet doing the dance while
they call the shots. You have no willpower. And without willpower
your not going to invoke a good fart let alone a good spell.

Drop all the adulthood crap sometime and re-enchant yourself with
your glory days when nothing mattered but the next game. Watch a
cartoon, play in the park, go to WalMart and buy a toy. One just
for you that you can take home, open up, and hold in your hands just
to let you know that somewhere in that shell you have become beats
the heart of a child with all the energy and time in the world.


Angel Snowden -2006