Ex Penna

Superstition Uses Tried Methods

As a spellcaster, I'm always hoping to find spells that have been used before, that have proven themselves.  I know it's popular now to write a brand new spell every time (read my thoughts on this silly notion here) but what I really want is to know that the spell I'm working will do exactly what it's supposed to do--and the first time.  Wouldn't that be lovely?

Superstition has the benefit of being passed down over many generations.  Each one of the people holding these ideas as true has added a bit more power to the thought.  That power has created a well from which you may dip any time you like.  You may even discover superstitions that are unique to your family.  Not only did these beliefs persist through time, they were specifically cultivated by your bloodline, adding yet another reason for it to retain potency.  Any time an idea is shared, cherished, and followed by a mass of people, it gains power.  Like the ancient spellbook a fortunate fairytale heroine finds in a dusty trunk, we can feel the respect of ages emanating from such ideas and recognize it as potent.


Superstition Uses Universal Concepts

Maybe we no longer view black cats as bad luck (and, indeed, there are some good luck superstitions about them) but a great many folk beliefs call up items, colors, and symbols that we still associate with everyday concepts such as happiness, family unity, and wealth. For example, it's easy to see why bread and salt predict and represent our home life and its success.  Likewise, we have a shared idea that such quickly recognized misfortunes like burning food or breaking things bring bad luck.

Because these concepts are generally understood, they're a good way for newcomers to conceive of and begin to work simple spells.  Which leads to...


Superstition Can Aid Your Spells

Any pre-written spell can benefit from adding correlating folklore.  Think of it as another form of association.  There's no limit to the ways in which we can dress up even the simplest spells and yet not fundamentally change them--including colors for things like altar cloths and candles; scent in things like fresh flowers/herbs or incenses and oils; or words like spoken charms or affirmations.   Superstition can work the same way.




Also consider the other ways you can work superstitions into your magical goals, such as arranging it with a friend who needs fast money that you re-enact folklore which will bring new money to them--Have them drop a small amount of money, as though by accident, then pick up that money and put it back in their hand, thereby granting them money luck.


Superstition Can Be Used to Predict the Success of Spellwork

So we talked all about how superstitions and omens are so closely related that they could pass for twins.  Well, now it's time to cast The Parent Trap--trade your usual spell omens (like shapes in the candle wax) for superstitions that relate to the goal of your spell.

For example, money will soon be coming to you if you discover that a spider has built a web in the corner of your doorway.  So instead of watching incense ash or patterns on your burnt spell papers, keep an eye out for a web.  You may wish to cap off your spellwork by declaring to your familiar/spirits/deities that this is the sign you prefer they send to show you the success of your work.   Not only will this give you something definite to watch for, it will also help you to become more observant, as well as better connected to the beings with whom you work magic.


Superstition Keeps You in Touch with Magical Thinking

In our day to day life, we can easily slide away from our understanding of ourselves as magical, powerful beings who are capable of changing our own reality.  Even just saying that seems preposterous on some days.  Who hasn't woke up to a 24 hour disaster--the car has a flat, in trouble at work, burst water pipe at home, a fight with a friend--and feel nothing like the mental-muscle flexing occultist we were in the circle the night before?  At that point, we're just surviving, just getting through the emergency to-do list and hoping for a better day tomorrow.  The connecting road between the mundane and the magical is obscured with too many weeds and garbage to be something we think to use.

However, even very small things that we do every day can keep that passageway available
to us and at the forefront of our minds as we enter troubled times.  Think of the many common actions that can be enhanced by adding superstition.  Cooking is a natural choice; try to think positive, aspirational thoughts as you cook, stirring clockwise.  Likewise, after you're done sweeping the floor, stand the broom with the bristles up for luck.




An occultist who is superstitious has an even greater body of work from which to draw.  The adoption (or perhaps resurgence) of superstition is nothing more than cherishing, maintaining, and promoting of folk beliefs of an earlier time.  The same way we investigate and preserve their spells and recipes, we should preserve their lore.  They are our ancestors and their beliefs and practices are our heritage.  Superstition eases and enriches our magical lives the same way that magic does for our mundane lives.  We should not turn away from this but run to it, open armed and joyful, embracing what it means to uphold folklore while also being a part of it.

May great good fortune come to you!



Sourcebook:
"Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need" by William Carroll      


Images from:
wikipedia.com
inyourpocket.com
nydailynews.com
(President Obama's lucky charms)    
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

No, I will not shun the superstition.  Instead I will honor it, acclaim it, and share that love and lore liberally.  I seek to reinstate the beauty, charm, and humility of the superstition amongst we magic users.


The Many Ways to Approach Superstition

Let's talk for a moment about all the things that are acceptable in the magical community and how they blend with superstition.  


Omens

First, there's omens.  Many sayings are predictions or expectations based on chance events and actions.  A guest will soon arrive if you drop a piece of silverware, a standing broom falls over, or a bee flies in the front door. Are these things omens or superstitions?

Omens are considered prophetic, often denoting a higher connection with some hidden wisdom or communication from the Gods.  Why can't a superstition be such a communication?  It would appear that there are few possible divisions between the two.  One of them is that superstition nearly always deals with very practical, everyday events.  So you're going to have company--do the Gods care?  Maybe, but most likely not.  

The only other difference is how these bits of wisdom are phrased.  In one of my favorite books, "Harvest Home" by Thomas Tryon, a gust of wind whistles down the chimney suddenly during a gathering of elderly ladies.  They all take note of the event, one saying "An omen, to be sure" and another adding, "Yes, but of what kind?"    So perhaps the more mysterious the exact meaning of the event, the more likely it is to be an omen?  It's certainly true that superstition has very little ambiguity.  The least amount of clarity that it offers is found in the list of that which is good or bad luck, never specifiying how that might manifest.

Spells

How about when they connect with magic spells?  A spell is the performance of actions and/or words to create effects which have no physical correlation with their source.  Some superstitions are perfect examples of magical thinking when taken this way.  For example, one belief that I follow closely is that whatever you do on New Year's day you will do all that year.  Because of this, I plan that day to contain a little bit of everything I love most and I do my best to avoid arguments and other things I don't want cluttering up my life.  This is my spell for the whole year binging me peace, love, prosperity, and productivity.  

only very simple spells, but they all take advantage of generations of firm belief--something that newly written spells can't have.  Perhaps it is that knowledge that its performance is the continuation of untold years that keeps the magic power in a superstition.

Here's where we get into the problem that most folks seem to have with superstition.  It's at this point that we see methods for averting the bad luck found in certain places or events.  To constantly be on guard against bad luck, to feel the need to do the right thing at the right time to ward it off properly, as well as the fear that one might forget and accidentally invite ill fortune are all things that the "rational" modern mind sees as the damaging effect of superstition.

Now, let me be clear that a person who is anxiety-filled will not find much solace in superstition because they are the ones most likely to flip out over a missed opportunity to remove evil.  The rest of us will be absolutely fine.  I throw spilled salt over my shoulder, I avoid sweeping dust out my front door, and I never pass a person a sharp item by hand.  But if any of these things should happen be the opposite on one occasion out of a million, I'm not going to assume the world will fall apart.  Instead I will see it for what it is: a chance not taken to reinforce the positive aspects of my life.  Next time I will take that chance.

What It Really Means to Be Superstitious

Scientific studies prove that belief in lucky tokens and actions actually increases the abilities of athletes and that the same things can help anyone achieve their goals.  This comes as a result of trying to get to the core of why athletes are especially superstitious as a whole, often noted for wearing their jerseys a certain way for luck or not changing a routine until a wining streak ends.  Fans of those athletes are only slightly less superstitious, going to great lengths to bless their favorite teams and rally behind their mascots.  It has meant a lot to the superstitious--and all of the above mentioned people especially--that there is proven science behind the belief.  Superstition works.  So what's the problem with it that it is still so discouraged?

superstition a topic of ridicule.  The "enlightened" person who knows only what they see, believes only what they were taught as a child, and lives in a world of absolutes will always tell others what is and isn't possible.  They know best and the rest of us should sit up and listen.  Because so few magical practitioners are born into the belief, we too start out this way.  It can be extremely challenging to shed the prejudice that surrounded you in early life, and many never manage it completely.  It would seem that the distaste for superstition is above average for prejudices to hold onto, despite having walked away from most others of the mundane society.  

So does it make one more of a rational caster to turn up one's nose at folk belief?  Perhaps that is the thinking.  After all, there are many practitioners who like to define themselves by what they shun:  "Yes, I'm a witch, but it's not like the movies!  I do real magic, not just wave a wand and fling fireballs."  

Does it make one more of a powerful caster?  This, too, could be the rationale.  Some do make specific rules about sources "real" power or how to spot a "true witch": "No real witch would sell her spells--magic is sacred!" or "Real witches don't cast curses; anybody who does isn't one of us."  So could it be that some think that following superstition is weakening their position as the genuine article?  Is it so expected by outsiders that we be superstitious that we tell one another not to be?

As a superstitious witch (as well as one who curses and has, on occasion, used fictional magic as inspiration), I do not feel beholden to any of these attitudes.  I know what works for me and that's all I need.  Rationale is not important to me.  What others consider powerful and proper is not important to me.  To be superstitious is to do what you feel works without worrying about public opinion or modern social expectations, and even literal causality.  Is this not what occultists are already doing?

Images from:
blogs.fit.edu/blog/campus/psychology
swide.com/art-culture/italian-traditions
superstitionsonline.com

Using Music in Magic


Music is an often overlooked component in magical spells and rites.  Classical and New Age have become the standard--if, indeed, they are used at all--but we have something else at our disposal, as well.  Now that the magical community has matured a bit, we have a great many Pagan and occult performers that are creating music specifically catered to these needs.   This kind of music knows what a practitioner wants to hear and speaks in the words and tones that benefit not only the efficacy of our spells but the very boldness of our spirits.

This little article delves into the idea and expresses the many opportunities we all have for integrating such music (herein described as "Wiccan music", though, in fact, it belongs to and is utilized by all of the magical community regardless of tradition) into our work and our lives.  Have a listen.

Prepare yourself for some painful truths.  I'm in the mood to lay it all out for you and I won't spare the hot sauce.

• Minimal changes in perspective 
• Deliberate and confident actions
• Discard some golden calves

Top 10 Comic Book Witches


As you may know, I am currently wearing many hats (in addition to shop owner and professional witch), and one of them is that of a comic book artist.  The strange beauty that is the comic community of art, writing, philosophy, and debate has taken over a good portion of my curiosity.  Have no fear, however--nothing will ever top my adoration for magic!  And so I have chosen to fuse the two of them together for you this Quick Link Monday and present to you one author's picks for the best comic book witches of all time.
What do you think of his lineup?

Let's get one thing clear--style is important.  There is nothing that will decide your success or failure so expertly as the legnths to which you go to reveal, understand, and utilize your own style.

It will be based on what you feel is most powerful so there's no way to nab it from others or to go by textbook specifications.  Of course, that doesn't mean you should just throw out all the pre-fab information and run on instinct.  Far from it--simply learn to be choosy in the right ways and you will cultivate a personal world that contains the greatest power possible and creates the greatest effects.

Learn everything you can.  Don't let the details slow you down from grasping at knowledge. This is the first essential step.  You can't actually discover your talents until you dabble in a bit of everything.  So dabble away!  Cast every kind of spell you encounter (note that I don't intend you to cast every spell, simply taste the variety of spell components and styles available to the modern practitioner).  Once you have a real body of information built up and start to work with it, you will see what you're good at.  This is incredibly important information.  Keep track of this.

In my own practice, I have seen that some of the simplest items work better for me than the expected ones.  I chant and recite charms, work various knots, and create sigils or draw old ones to use again.  I don't care for the standard candle spells and rarely use stones.  My preferences have become the main source of my interest, and therefore, my power.


2.  Know Your Weaknesses

Just as worthy is the understanding of those spells which always seem to fall short.  There's no shame in this.  I've never met a caster that didn't have a trouble spot.

But that doesn't mean you can run from them forever.  Know now that you won't always be able to outsource your spellwork just because it's tricky.  Instead, learn ways to work around the limitations it puts on you. If you do poorly with money spells, try works that are focused on revealing opportunities of all kinds or unblocking situations.  These little cheats can be a time saver when you're out of your usual zone.

If you're able, also delve into just why you have these problems.  It is helpful for any person to explore the blockages in their life, but essential for the spellcaster to do it.  You may discover prejudices and ghosts of the past that are interfering with how you handle similar situations today.  Simple reasons such as these can keep you locked out of true success in magic.  Once you're able to identify the source of the issue, you can start to eradicate it for your emotional good and the good of your magical practice.

My stumbling block is one that I've only really found difficult within the past few years--love spells.  I rarely take on love spells for clients any more because of this, even though it is one of the most common requests.  I think my main problem with them is how often the asker's desperation gets in the way.  Wanting so badly to control the emotions of others will often come to a unfulfilling end.  If you wish to control others, you must do so from a place of control yourself, and this is rare in cases where a lover runs away or won't give the asker the attention they seek.  Happily, I have no need for love spells in my own life and can easily turn down requests from individuals whom I feel have that unfortunate desperation that will spoil my work.  If I find a request that I feel is worthwhile, perhaps I will take it up.  If I do, though, I think I will have to approach it as a compelling or drawing spell only.

3.  Boost Your Spells

Here's a place where, sadly, many good casters go wrong.  You don't need to rewrite the whole piece nor replace all the herbs with ones you like better.  We're not reinventing the wheel; we're linking it up to an already functioning chariot.

If you don't know what you can use to give our spells some added oomph, start simply by asking yourself, "What sets the mood for me?"  Draw from every source possible: past experiences, stories of others, movies, books, dreams.  Make a list of the kinds of things you feel are deeply magical acts, objects, colors, images, and words.  Work these up into methods you can use to enhance the setting of any spell.

Maybe your thing is incense and lighting it always sets the perfect tone.  If that's the case, have plenty of incense on hand, of your favorite blend or brand.  Or perhaps you like drumming or chanting to sink into the deep state of mind wherein magic takes place.  Work those into your preparations. These are things you can do to augment--but not alter--the spell you're about to cast.  Your own style should express your influences, preferences, and talents.  It adds, never subtracts.

For example, at 16 I first watched one of my favorite movies, Bell, Book, and Candle and absolutely fell in love with the way Gillian hummed a simple but intriguing little tune to enchant her target.   When I was writing my first manuscript, a spellbook, I decided to include a tune that could be used in a similar way.  Now it is the main tool I use when I give someone a "push," and it works wonders.   Because I've used it many times, because it was inspired by a favorite example of directed will, and because its sound and words are enticing, it feels powerful to me.  That is one piece of magic that I wish to keep close at hand and use to enhance other works if they need a little something extra.


4.  Use the Right Words for You

We all know the standard phrase "So mote it be."  This is the "Amen" to our work, the cherry on top that locks in our notion of the job being complete.  For many, these are sacred, potent words whose utterance is like breathing their wishes into existence.

Remember, too, your favorite literature and other entertainment.  These words and phrases are for your benefit and your ears only.  It's not important that they sound meaningful to anyone else.

When I need a phrase that really means something to me, that gives me the sure knowledge that I am on the right track, I repeat the phrase said years ago when, as I've mentioned here before, I was focusing on a candle flame when a fly that had been annoying me flew straight into it and died.  That was such an affecting moment for me that I will never forget it, and I will never stop feeling that those words have power.

5.  Cultivate Scheduled Magic

By now you know your life.  You're aware of your cycles and your recurring troubles.  Then it should be no problem to stay ahead of them, plan for them, and deal with the issues they cause before they even have the chance to cause them.  This means having regularly scheduled spellwork.

Whether it be by the day, week, or month, these rites are just as important as the seasonal ones many of us observe.  Decide what you need and how often you need it.  What kinds of spells and ritual actions can give you the proper dose of magic at the proper time to keep your life in balance?

The attitude that spells should only be cast in the most dire of emergencies has led many practitioners to swing wildly between elation and depression.  Planning out your moon cycles (or, as noted, calander cycles) easily combats this issue.  How you do this and with what methods is a stylistic choice that can define the look and feel of your recurring practice.

During the toughest point in my married life--when we faced many challenges, hard work, no money, little help, and all the while raising our two small children--I set a schedule of regular house cleansings and protection on all of us. Once a month I would scrub the front doorstep with salted water to which I'd added the two simplest protection fluids, urine and blood.  I drew sigils and warding phrases in other languages in chalk on the back porch.  I made talismans for our children to wear constantly any time they were away from home.  I fumed the house, chanted, and made offerings.  And we made it through.

I no longer keep these things as regular magic (partly because they've been changed or replaced by other methods but mainly because life is much more consistent and prosperous now) but they were perfect for dealing with the situation we were in at the time.  They gave me an anchor amidst the chaos as well as being a constant working to combat our problems and prevent more from coming.

6.  Reliable Assistance

The longer I practice witchcraft, the more I realize that it is silly to go it alone.  Classical witches are seen as having spirits and demons in their attendance, as well as mortal students or apprentices.  This is a brilliant idea that can make a witch's life so much easier.  It really is a wonder that more practitioners don't embrace it.

To have assistance that is timely and functional, you need only look at when and where you do most of your work.  What kind of help would be most effective for you?  Do you want a relationship that you can enter into and form close bonds?  Try connecting with deities, ancestors, or incorporeal spirits, or creating a familiar or a fetch.  This can also be a good time to work with physical animals.  There is a difference between a spirit familiar and that of a mortal animal, and both have their own benefits.

If you're not looking for a relationship, try working with the help of talismanic objects, jewelry, or robes.  Putting on an amulet or magical seal before you begin is a simple form of  gaining assistance and also creating the atmosphere needed for magic to happen.  If robes or other clothing are your helpers, really throw all your talents into making them special and sacred.  Colors, fabrics, sewn-on talismans, or sigils and other magical symbols painted or embroidered can raise your spellcasting gear to a new level.

As you know, I have a Fetch who has become a constant help to me.  It's like having a secretary to run errands, dig up information, keep tabs on the progress of spells, and perform tasks I havn't got time to do myself.  What a fantastic help he has been!

I also enjoy a regular use of sigils, often carrying them for long periods of time or tucking them into related objects only to find them weeks or months later with surprise.  Their work makes my work so much easier.



As you can see, developing your style is mostly about introspection and working within the systems you naturally have in place.  Knowing yourself and the kinds of magic with which you're most comfortable and confident is invaluable as you seek your own distinct approach to your practice.  I suggest that if you have a hard time with any of these topics that you take a few weeks to a month to journal and contemplate your thoughts on them before you begin making any changes.  Write down all the questions I have posed here and don't go any further until you can answer them with in depth.

Remember while you're making these adjustments that you're not the first magic user on earth; you can--nay, should--work with the research and time-tested spells of those who have gone before you.  Starting from scratch should only be something you need to do if there is no reliable information available to cover your situation.  Otherwise, you're simply finding ways to perform existing spells with added bumpers of your own inspiration.  Look for the empty spaces in a spell and fill them with more associations such as color, music, words, symbols, formulas, incense, and additional components.

Think about how others would describe you as a practitioner.  What would they notice about your magic?  What about you stands out as individual?  What do you do that is your own, that is apart from your influences and your peers?  Build up the aspects of your practice by which you wish to be known.  Your style is how you will be remembered by coven mates, students, and your children.  Be sure that you are cut a indelible figure from which they can find inspiration long after you are gone.


Images from:
dailymail.co.uk
susamaachar.blogspot.com

Sure, magical names are fun.  They reflect what we find powerful and exciting, giving like-minded folks a taste of our personality and what drew us to magic in the first place.  They're a good way to overwrite our given names which can feel dull or too common for ritual use.

When they're chosen by a teacher, they're even more thrilling.  Names bequeathed on you hold a sort of street cred with other practitiners.  You've been through proper training and received initiation through means that most of us have not.  Don't be shy about flaunting it!  The use of such a name can reflect a special sort of faith in yourself by dint of the faith your teacher had in you, as well as the respect you hold for that teacher.

As a code, a connection, a secret door that opens in your to let the magic out, your name can iuld a stronger bond between yourself and your Gods or guiding spirits.  It is part of what attaches you to the hidden world.  Keep it safe and use it only in those instances that bring the most benefit to you and your work.

Now you can see what I mean by the serious business of names.  There are many ings to consider before you take a new name, and many more when assessing a name you have hand for years.  Let's take a look at the most important aspects.

It is Your Definition

Most folks choose their name based on what most interests them about witchcraft.  It is a sign of the kind of power they wish to embody, the things they want to learn, where they want magic to take them.

Before taking a name, ask yourself if you can be summed up.  What words are your inspiration?  What is your drive?  What do you choose to be the totality of the magical side of yourself?  Yes, these things can be expressed in just a word or two.  Keep trying until you find them.

I've never had a hard time figuring out who I was or what I wanted.  It was easy, therefore, to choose a theme for my magical name at my official initiation in 2001.  I went through the motions of making my committment to magic and the Gods I worshipped because I'd been doing it for many years already, but taking a name was something I did with the greatest of care.  Even though I knew what I wanted my name to say about me, I still gave it long and thougtful consideration before making my decision.  The name I took expressed the parts of my personailty that I wanted to come to the forefornt.  Always a cage rattler, I never shied from a battle and was often found debating issues about which I had little interest, simply for the fun of the kill.  By this point, however, I was a wife and new mother and ready to let a still strong but calm side of me show.  So I named myself for the power of flexibility, compromise, and secret storms.  It was just what I needed at the time.

It Can Shape Your Future

Magical names are rarely thought of as limiting but it is quite true.  Because they are your aspirations, there may come a time when the goal they posit has been achived.  What then?  Well, now you have your limit.  You have grown into your name, expanding to its greatest dimensions, but further.


My best advice is to never keep a name so long that it begins to do you harm.  Go into that name knowing what potentials lie within for negative expressions and step away as soon as they begin to manifest.  I waited; you shouldn't.

It Must Change as You Change

So it's clear that you've got to take a new name now and again.  That's something I've not heard many practitioners discuss.  Maybe it's simply because our names become a convienece.  They're the way we are known in the community and we keep them for ease of use with others.  I totally understand.  This is why having both a public and a private name is helpful.  If your old name is what you're called by your coven, what gets shouted out across the festival grounds, or what you use in business, teaching, or online interactions, by all means hold onto it.  If you have seriously outgrown it, though, create a new one that better expresses your position and use it in more intimate settings.

You may require a new name only a few years after choosing one initially, or you may never see the end of the original.  It's only important if there's signs that it's not enough.  If you have reached sufficiently high and made connections sufficiently deep, you may be called by one name your whole life.

As for me, I didn't use my old name much so I didn't often consider it as being so out-of-touch with my current self.  Your own amount of usage will vary, of course, but for me it simply didn't come up as something I was ofen called.  I spent many of my early years (even once I was technically in the magical community and public about my practice outside it as well) without many physical interactions with other practitioners.  Online I was called by my sign-ons, not my magical name.  Offline, my only real use for it was for listing the source when writing and sharing spells with others.

It was only once it was obvious that my old name no longer fit that I took the leap to change  it.  I knew it was time because the old one seemed almost silly to me, a shade of my former self and the things she wanted to be.  So I finally took a new name that easily reflected the way I wanted to be now. I had feared the switch at first, but I quickly saw that the new name gave me more freedom, more expression, and a more useful position in my life.

Now that I am immersed in the community, I use my name a great deal more.  It's how I'm known to students, customers, and readers here and elsewhere.  It has become the new space for me to inhabit, with distant limits I may only see many, many years from now.

As you can see, careful choice is essential.  Use your well-crafted name often and use it well.  It's part of the will you work in the world and it can lead you to great places.  Open yourself to its influence and you can craft a version of yourself that is nowhere else so easily achieved.


Images from:
ehshaapple.wordpress.com
pinterest.com