How to Become a Witch (12 page)

There is a model from India, the Tattvic system, that expands upon the basic five elements. They speak of permutations such as earth of air, air of air, fire of air, water of air, spirit of air, and so on for each of the elements. Each of these also represents a metaphysical portal where one can enter and explore these deeper mysteries of the elements in combination. This is fascinating work that you can look forward to doing as you advance in your learning.

You, too, are a blend of earth and air, fire and water, filled and guided by spirit. May you be a living, shining example of the elemental balance that we see in the pentagram.

Chapter 4

Bell, Book, and Candle
Equipping the New Witch

B
ased on knowledge, filled with love,

Touching magick, wielding power,

As below, so above,

I am a Witch at every hour.

Did you think this chapter was going to start off with “Buy a pointy hat, a broom, a cauldron, and a black cat”? No? Good—because that’s window dressing, and sadly stereotypical. Neither will we start with a wand like Harry Potter’s, although a wand is a part of the modern Witch’s toolbox, so it is a part of this chapter. A Witch’s tools are aids to the mind and imagination when doing magick, but the tool doesn’t make the Witch. There is a saying that an adept has the use of everything but is dependent on nothing. We would amend this to say that the Witch is dependent on nothing outside him- or herself—but what is
inside
the Witch is vital.

So what are these internal qualities? They are those attributes of self that define the Witch. Let’s start with the Witches’ Pyramid, a neat encapsulation of what it means to be a Witch and to do magick, captured in the following rhyme:

Knowledge as a base of stone,

Will to call the thing my own.

Imagination helps to see,

Faith to know that it will be.

Silence knows what’s best to hide,

Love will fill the space inside.

Spirit binds them all as one,

Now the magick has begun.
[1]

The base of the pyramid is knowledge, the inside is love, and the four sides correspond to air, fire, water, and earth. Each of these four elements has a corresponding witchy tool associated with it, and so does knowledge. There is no tool specifically associated with love, but ideally all of a Witch’s actions flow from the heart and love, so a separate tool is hardly necessary. We will begin with the pyramid’s base, and then go around the sides in the order that they are most often used in performing magick—east (air/imagination), then south (fire/will), then west (water/silence), and north (earth/faith), finally followed by love at the center. (We covered spirit in the last chapter.) We will explore both the internal qualities of the Witch and the tool and element that correspond to each one.

The Base
Knowledge, Book of Shadows

The base of the Witches’ Pyramid is knowledge: knowledge from this book, other books, teachers, nature, your own experiences, the Internet—anywhere you can gain knowledge about yourself, other people, and the world around you. Because Witchcraft will take you to anywhere/when/who you can imagine, the Witch needs to be well read, with a wide variety of interests and a lively curiosity to know more and more and more.

So, to become a Witch, begin by taking an inventory of your knowledge. What is your background, and more importantly, what have you learned along the way about yourself and others? About the world outside your door, halfway around this planet, or beyond this planet? What do you know a lot about; what would you like to know more about? And where do you record all this knowledge? In your Book of Shadows.

The Witches’ Pyramid

The witches’ alphabet

A magickal alphabet popular in the Craft is called Theban Script, or the Runes of Honorius. It may have been first published in 1518, in a book called
Polygraphia
by Johannes Trithemius. He suggested that it was created by the legendary magician Honorius of Thebes. Today, it is used by some Witches for their Books of Shadows, as a simple cipher to protect their material from any curious muggle. Some of the fantasy Elvish alphabets look vaguely similar and may have been based on Theban.

The Book of Shadows may live on your altar, or beneath it, or elsewhere—just make sure for ease of use that it is convenient to get to.

Begin gathering more witchy knowledge from books, the Internet, and workshops. We have included an appendix of recommended readings and another of resources, including some of the hundreds of Internet sites for Witch/Wiccan/Pagan information—these make up just a fraction of the witchy knowledge available today. Once there were only a handful of books on the Craft; today dozens are published each year on Witchcraft and related subjects, and new Internet sites pop up daily. Take a stroll through the bookshelves of your local metaphysical shop, and pull volumes off the shelf that catch your eye. Buy some—support your local Pagan merchant—and start your own library.

Don’t buy too many at first, though. Start with just a few, and practice what is in them before buying more, or it can get overwhelming. Eventually you will move beyond strictly Craft books to explore related subjects. You can read up on other spiritual paths, find the similarities and differences, and perhaps try practices from other faiths. Mythology is always useful for finding deities to work with, both in ritual and to walk with through life. Ancient history can give you a sense of our roots, psychology an understanding of how we think, and ecology a hope for a bright future. Grow your library carefully and tend it well, as you would a beloved garden, for it will feed your mind and soul, giving nourishment with each new book.

Search the Internet using Witch words (see the index or the glossary), and peek into some of the thousands of sites that pop up. Take workshops at Pagan festivals, online through Cherry Hill and other schools, or in person at Ardantane. Record your most interesting findings in your Book of Shadows. Then get up and do something. Witchcraft begins with knowledge, then is built on through experiences.

East
Imagination, Athame

Once you have a good start on your base of knowledge and the willingness to continue learning throughout your life, you can begin to build the sides of your pyramid. The first side is air, or imagination. If you can’t imagine something, you can never attain it; imagination is the first step in creation, the first step in magick. Imagination and inspiration are closely linked—it’s rare to find one without the other. Inspiration comes from dreams, daydreams, and things you see, hear, or feel; it is that sudden light, that spark of “I wonder…” or “I’d like to see what would happen if…” So, to begin to become a Witch, think, “What do I want?”—then imagine you have it.

Using all your senses, imagine an animal or a piece of food. What would it look like, smell like, feel, taste, and sound like? Vivid imagination includes all your senses plus your emotions. How do you feel about it—does it thrill you, scare you, make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Write it in your Book of Shadows.

The tool most often associated with air is the athame, a black-handled, double-edged knife that is used to cut through nonphysical energies. It is considered an air tool partly because air is the realm of the intellect and the imagination, and the athame can cut through illusion to get to truth. The athame helps cut through the fibs we tell ourselves and the webs of misinformation in which others want to spin us. We will talk more about how the athame is used, and about cleansing and dedicating it before use, in chapter 8. As with all the tools, the ideal way to obtain an athame is to make it yourself. Alternatively, you can find one at your local metaphysical shop, from a merchant at a Pagan festival, or, as a last resort (because you can’t touch it and feel its energy before buying), on the Internet.

The athame is either worn in a sheath or placed on the east side of the altar.

The coven sword

While each Witch owns an athame for personal use, many covens own a sword that is used to cast circles at group rituals. In earlier times, only the nobility were allowed to carry swords, but legend tells us that the Craft has always included people from the aristocracy. Some coven swords used today are heirlooms, some are decorative pieces, and others were originally well-crafted weapons that would hold up in a battle—except, of course, that a ritual blade would never be used to cut anything material, much less stab an enemy warrior.

South
Will, Wand

The second side of the pyramid is fire, or will, corresponding to the south. Will is perhaps the most complex side of the pyramid, because “will” can have many meanings. We discuss this in chapter 7, on ethics, because the Wiccan Rede says, “An ye harm none, do as ye will.” In that case,
will
means your true will, not just a whim. However, in the context of the Witches’ Pyramid,
will
means concentrated focus—a single-mindedness that will get you to your goal. To be a Witch, you must be able to focus on one thing until you have made it your own.

Will also implies daring and courage. Witches make change happen in conformity with will (one of the definitions of magick), and therefore Witches live with change as a constant. Sometimes change can be scary, especially changes in yourself. Yet most Witches are on a path of self-transformation to become the best they can be. Very few rest on their laurels, satisfied with the way they are.