The History Of Magic

Book: The History Of Magic by Joseph Ennemoser

A text of 1854, in two volume to which is added an Appendix, of the most remarkable and Best Authenticated Stories of Apparitions, Dreams, Second Sight, Somnambulism, Predictions, Divination, Witchcraft, Vampires, Fairies, Table-Turning, and spirit Rapping. Translated by William Howitt. Extremely scarce, this is a foundational work on magic and mysticism! Contents: Author's Preface; Of Magic and its Branches in General; Theoretical Views on Magic Among the Ancients; Magnetism among the ancient Nations especially the Orientals, Egyptian, and Israelites; Magic among the Greek and Romans; Magic in Mythology; Magic of the Germans; Mystic Doctrines and Endeavors after a Philosophical Elucidation of the Magic of the Middle Ages; Apparitions; Haunted Houses; Dreams; Second Sight; Trance and Somnambulism; Ecstasy; Predictions; Divination; Witchcraft; Vampires; Amulets and Charms; Narcotics; Fairies; spiritual Manifestations.

Buy Joseph Ennemoser's book: The History Of Magic

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In The Devil Snare The Salem Witchcraft Crisis Of 1692

Book: In The Devil Snare The Salem Witchcraft Crisis Of 1692 by Mary Beth Norton

Every historian dealing with the Salem witchcraft episode has attempted to explain "why Salem?" in terms of their own times. Reasons why have ranged from sheer fakery to mass hysteria to land greed or medical causes. Noted historian Mary Beth Norton has throughly combed through the surviving original records to arrive at a new and convincing explanation of the infamous 1692 witch crisis: the very real fear of Indian attacks on settlements in Massachusetts and Maine. Norton explores the news and letters of the times before and during 1692 to discover that Essex County MA residents were primarily concerned with the hit and run attacks on homes and settlements by Native Americans(some with French support). She bases her thesis on what she has found in original documents, rather than use the records to support her thesis. Puritans and others had very real reasons to be obsessed with the Devil in Massachusetts as they considered Native Americans Satan's agents.... Norton's narrative is most absorbing in relating the cause and effect of Native American attacks on colonial settlements.

The story of the Salem witchcraft trials is well known, from both historical accounts and dramatic retellings, such as Arthur Miller's play The Crucible. Cornell historian Mary Beth Norton now offers a significant reinterpretation of the events that (by her count) led to legal action against at least 144 people, 54 confessions of witchcraft, 19 hangings, and one "pressing to death ... by heavy stones." Norton's contribution is to contextualize what happened. She studies not just Salem itself, but all of Essex County and Northern New England, because so many of the people involved in the witchcraft crisis didn't live in Salem proper. She also says these grim events must be understood in relation to King William's War, which the early Americans called the Second Indian War. This frontier conflict and the religious interpretations thrust upon it created the conditions for what happened in Salem and the surrounding region, which, says Norton, would not have occurred in the war's absence. As might be expected, her narrative does not proceed along traditional lines. It is driven more by the academic imperative to break scholarly ground than by the urge to tell a harrowing story. For readers interested in knowing what really happened at Salem, though, In the Devil's Snare may be the best source.

Two factors in Norton's work are most striking: 1)Just about everyone involved in the Salem witch episode had or knew of someone who had suffered losses in the eras now called King Philip's and King William's Wars, and 2)Nearly everyone involved was related to everyone else in some degree.

Norton rights many historical fallicies concerning the Salem witch episode(which she accurately terms Essex County witchcraft), focusing on the Andover area which had the highest concentration of witchcraft accusations and confessions, as well as Salem Town and Salem Village. Norton brings to light some "lost" information on accusers and accused as well, however noting that many documents may be forever lost due to deliberate destruction by either the originators and/or decendents of both accused and accusers, all wanting to preserve their families good names.

This fascinating and informationally dense book kept me up late two nights running to finish it. Norton also provides nearly 100 pages of notes and source materials, mostly of interest to serious amateur and professional historians, but full of interesting facts and further explanations.

The only real flaw in this best book I've encountered of the 1692 Witch Crisis(and I've read all of them, I believe) is that Norton uses the "they must have thought such and such" language of many of today's historians, rather than write "may" or "might", instead of "must"or "should". Norton does back up these "must" conclusions with evidence, however the reader may silently disagree upon rare occasion.

Altogether, this is a must-have book for those interested in "Salem 1692."

Buy Mary Beth Norton's book: In The Devil Snare The Salem Witchcraft Crisis Of 1692

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Liber Kkk Or Kaos Keraunos Kybernetos

Book: Liber Kkk Or Kaos Keraunos Kybernetos by Peter Carroll

Liber KKK is the first, complete, systematic magical training programme for some centuries. It is a definitive replacement for the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, which system has become obsolete due to its monotheist transcendentalism and its dependency on repressive forms of inhibitory gnosis now considered inappropriate.

Liber KKK is presented as a series of general magical techniques which the magician must develop into a workable programme using whatever symbols, instruments and forms of gnosis that appeal to him. It would be inappropriate for a Chaos Magic text to prescribe any particular beliefs or dogmas, except that magic works if certain general principles are followed. It would be inappropriate for any Chaos magician to slavishly adhere to the fine detail of any system. Much can be learnt from Liber KKK in the process of adapting general procedures to personal taste and objectives. Liber KKK may be attempted by any adult. The word "magician" applies equally to either sex and the use of the male personal pronouns in the text is merely a literary convention in the absence of neutral forms in English.

Liber KKK is a series of twenty-five magical operations or "conjurations". The five classical conjurations of Evocation, Divination, Enchantment, Invocation and Illumination are each performed on the five levels of Sorcery, shamanic Magic, Ritual Magic, Astral Magic and High Magic. Thus the whole work systematically resumes the entire tradition of magical technique, leading the magician from simple practices and the manufacture of tools towards the mastery of more complex experiments on the psychic level.

It is highly desirable that the magician has some form of private temple for his conjurations. Yet it is essential that the magician remains active in the world for the period of the work as a whole. The work does not entail any form of retreat from the world, but rather the world surrounding the magician is used as the proving ground for magic. Thus the business and social affairs of the magician are the prime focus for his magic. In performing that magic he gradually defines his style or spirituality. For it is senseless to define spirituality as other than the way one lives. If the Way of Magic is to have a spiritual component it can only be discovered through the performance, all strictures and exhortations are useless.

Download Peter Carroll's eBook: Liber Kkk Or Kaos Keraunos Kybernetos

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Witchcraft In Kenmore From 1730 To 1757

Book: Witchcraft In Kenmore From 1730 To 1757 by John Christie

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

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John Christie - Witchcraft In Kenmore From 1730 To 1757

Mysterious Delusions Witchcraft In Salem

Book: Mysterious Delusions Witchcraft In Salem by Walter Rowe

The Salem witchcraft trials are events that most Americans have heard of, but about which they actually know very little. For example, some people believe that witches were burnt in Salem. Actually, the prescribed punishment for witchcraft under English law was hanging. Another commonly held belief is that the witchcraft hysteria started when a group of young girls in Salem, under the tutelage of Tituba, an African slave, used magical spells to try to find out the occupations of the men that they would marry. This cluster of beliefs now has the status of an academic urban legend. The notion that a group of girls was using magic to find out about their future husbands stems from a careless reading of a remark of Rev. John Hale, who wrote that one of the young accusers had confided to him her own use of magic in this way. (by Walter F. Rowe, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Forensic Sciences The George Washington University Washington, DC)

Download Walter Rowe's eBook: Mysterious Delusions Witchcraft In Salem

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Salem Possessed The Social Origins Of Witchcraft

Book: Salem Possessed The Social Origins Of Witchcraft by Paul Boyer

This is a wonderful book. Boyer and Neissenbaum take you to society and the time right before the witch trials took place. They give you all the information you need to feel what life was like there and to understand the underlying tensions and disputes, jealousies and arrogance. Things were changing. Some people wanted --and benefited from the changes-- others didn't want, and were antagonistic to, the changes. The ideal of the community was being tested by economic opportunity, which was fostering economic greed. An increasing stratified society was coming into being. Meanwhile, there was no mechanism available for petty disputes to be resolved via the courts or other public venues -- this is just a short list of the variety of problems that sat unresolved and which eventually broke loose in the hysteria of a witch hunting. This is an amazingly complex and fascinating story--the research and scholarship here is extraordinary. If you want to know what lead up to the witch trials this is the book you want to read.

Provides an admirable illustration of the general rule that, in Old and New England alike, much of the best sociological history of the Twentieth Century has only been made possible by the antiquarian and genealogical interests of the nineteenth...This sensitive, intelligent, and well-written book will certainly revive interest in the terrible happenings at Salem.
--Keith Thomas (New York Review of Books )

The authors' whole approach to the Salem disaster is canny, rewarding, and sure to fascinate readers interested in that aberrant affair. (The Atlantic )

This is an 'inner history' of Salem Village that aims to raise the events of 1692 from melodrama to tragedy...It is a large achievement. This book is progressive history at its best, with brilliant insights, well-organized evidence, maps, and footnotes at the bottom of the page.
--Cedric B. Cowing (American Historical Review )

This short book is a solid contribution to the understanding of the 1692 witch trials. The authors use impressively rich demographic detail to support the thesis that the witch trials are best explained as symptoms of typical social tensions in provincial towns at the time. According to Boyer and Nissenbaum, Salem villagers played roles determined by economic, geographic, and status interests.
--Richard Ekman (Canadian Historical Review )

An important, imaginative book that brings new insights to the study of the 1692 witchcraft outbreak in Massachusetts. Building on Charles Upham's Salem Witchcraft (1867), Boyer and Nissenbaum explore decades of community tension and conflict in order to explain why Salem was the focus of this episode. The authors reveal a complex set of relationships between persons allied with the growing mercantile interests of Salem Town and those linked to the subsistence-based economy of outlying Salem Village.
--Carol Karlsen (Journal of Women in Culture and Society )

A provocative book. Drawing upon an impressive range of unpublished local sources, Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum provide a challenging new Interpretation of the outbreak of witchcraft in Salem Village. They argue that previous historians erroneously divorced the tragic events of 1692 from the long-term development of the village and therefore failed to realize that the witch trials were simply one particularly violent chapter in a series of local controversies dating back to the 1660s. In their reconstruction of the socio-economic conditions that contributed to the intense factionalism in Salem Village, Boyer and Nissenbaum have made a major contribution to the social history of colonial New England...[They] have provided us with a first-rate discussion of factionalism in a seventeenth-century New England community. Their handling of economic, familial, and spatial relationships within Salem Village is both sophisticated and imaginative.
--T. H. Breen (William and Mary Quarterly )

An illuminating and imaginative interpretation... of the social and moral state of Salem village in 1692. A sensitive, intelligent, and well-written book. (New York Review of Books )

A large achievement. This book is progressive history at its very best, with brilliant insights. (American historical Review )

Salem Possessed is a provocative book. Drawing upon an impressive range of unpublished local sources, Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum provide a challenging new interpretation of the outbreak of witchcraft in Salem Village... A major contribution to the social history of colonial New England... Sophisticated and imaginative. (William and Many Quarterly )

Buy Paul Boyer's book: Salem Possessed The Social Origins Of Witchcraft

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Using The Seven Pins In Candle Magick

In Hoodoo and Voodoo, use of the seven-day candle, or "7 day vigil candle" is commonplace. The seven day candles are used in difficult cases and cases where concentrated energy is needed. The candle is burned over a period of seven days whereby the practitioner pays attention to revealing and divinatory signs from the candle.

To use your pins with a candle, you start with
a regular offeratory or large candle and seven pins of the seven colors. The candle is divided into seven equal parts by sticking the pins into the candle at seven equal intervals. The seventh pin goes into the top or bottom of the candle. Make sure the pins go all the way in the candle. Take a piece of parchament paper (best to start with a rather large piece of paper) and write down seven wishes. Fold the paper at a 90 degree angle and write your full name over your wish, then fold again and write your name again, proceeding with this process seven times. Dress your candle with the appropriate oil and place the folded paper under the candle. The candle is burned for seven nights, with the flame pinched out each time a pin falls. Save all of the pins and when the last needle falls, stick the pins into the paper so that it looks like the one in the picture. According to the law of attraction, bury the paper, pins and leftoverwax under your doorstep to attract your wishes to you. If your wishes are of the repelling type, throw the ritual remains in a crossroads, graveyard, or in a moving stream or river.

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What Goes In A Book Of Shadows

The book of shadows is a reference, a guide, a journal, a means of record-keeping. Within it's pages you will keep details of spells cast and the results, of rituals conducted with a note of the intention and any work done, you can record dreams, divinations, thoughts and ideas. Basically, anything that you find important as a pagan or a witch.

Our family BOS starts off with our family history. My husband and I decided that we wanted ours to be very much used like an old-fashioned family bible. We therefore printed up the family line for both of us back 2 generations, and have left space for future generations. Future additions will be handwritten in.

After that, I have put a drawing of my preferred altar set up with explanations of what goes where as I have detailed in Tools of the Witch.

The remaining pages are used for recording rituals that we have done as a family. Sometimes we have a formal ritual with all the smells and bells, other times we just invite family around for an informal dinner.

Some rituals that can be found in our family BOS include Circle Opening and Closing rituals, symbolic great rite, initiation rituals, naming ceremonies and a handfasting ceremony. The naming and handfasting ceremonies are detailed in Life Rituals.

My personal BOS also contains information on spells I have done and divinations I have done using either a tarot deck or my amulets, dreams, and things seen during guided imagery sessions.

Books You Might Enjoy:

Ancient Grimoires - The 8th Book Of Moses
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Sasha Fierce - The Book Of Shadows

Suggestions For Your Own Book Of Shadows

You're going to see all sorts of rules and laws and thou must do this statements about creating a book of shadows online.

Let me tell you straight out. There are no rules, there are no laws, and there is nothing you must do to make your BOS your book.

Some things I have seen as "Must have in your BOS":

A dedication page - If you want to write a dedication in your book, go ahead but it isn't necessary.

Writing in a special language - Use your native tongue. If you cannot think and speak fluently in a language, do not write your BOS in it. You'll just end up having to go get a translation dictionary every time you want to read it.

A protection spell of some sort - Again, go ahead and put one on if you want, but for the most part the only person who is going to have an interest in your BOS is you. Unlike the fictional spellbooks found on popular TV shows, a BOS has no inherent magic, no special powers. It's just a book. An important book, but just a book all the same. Everything within those pages will have been put there by you, they will be of importance only to you.

Books You Might Enjoy:

Benjamin Rowe - The Book Of The Seniors
Sekhet Sophia - The Alexandrian Book Of Shadows
Austin Osman Spare - A Book Of Satyrs
Gerald Gardner - The Garnerian Book Of Shadows
Sasha Fierce - The Book Of Shadows

Your Magical Name

Why a Magical Name?:
Ah, the magical name. So many people find wicca and decide right off the bat that they’re going to name themselves Lady Such-and-Such or Lord Whatsis. Go to a pagan event and you’ll meet more fifteen-year-old Lady Morganas than you can shake a stick at. And it’s virtually guaranteed that within about three months, Lady Morgana will decide her magical name, sometimes called a craft name, is really supposed to be Starfluffle or Moongypsy, and she’ll change it.

In fact, she’ll probably change it two to three times a year.

The Name-of-the-Month Club:
This odd phenomenon, known as the Name-of-the-Month Syndrome, happens most often because the person in question hasn’t taken the time to research and learn, which is crucial to finding the right magical name.

A magical name is unique to the practitioner, and there are several ways to find yours. When you find the right name, you’ll keep it for a long time. In some traditions, it‘s customary to wait until you‘ve studied a year and a day before claiming your magical name. Some Pagans have two magical names -- one which they use in public and one which is known only to the gods and members of the person’s coven.

Think Long-Range:
One method by which people sometimes find their magical name is to simply choose something they like. A problem with this method is that what we like on one day, we may find silly a year down the road. If you’re going to choose a name based on whether it sounds cool or not, stop and think about it. What is it about the name that appeals to you? Ten years from now, are still going to feel comfortable saying, “Hi, I‘m Fairypuddle,” when you meet a new person?

Names with Meaning:
Choose a name not only for its sound, but its attributes as well. For example, someone wishing to convey strength in their name might include “oak“ or “iron“ as part of their moniker. A person who is highly creative might select a name that reflects their art or craft. You may want to choose a name based rooted in folklore or mythology. Many people include the name of an animal that resonates with them. A cautionary note here: in the Pagan community, certain animals pop up all the time. You’ll meet two dozen Ravens and just as many Cats, but it’s unlikely you’ll encounter anyone calling himself Wombat or Penguin.

Names to Avoid:
Another bit of advice -- generally, the titles Lord and Lady are reserved for people who are elders or have a significant amount of leadership experience under their belt. To name oneself Lady So-and-So without any credentials is considered presumptuous by many Pagans. Likewise, in many traditions it’s seen as hubris to give oneself the name of a deity. You may want to choose a name that indicates your dedication to a god or goddess, but don’t co-opt their names. It’s just rude. If you're a dedicant to Apollo, don't call yourself Master Apollo, call yourself something like Apollonius instead.

Using Your Birth Number:
Another popular method of finding a magical name is to choose one that corresponds with your birth number. To find your birth number, begin by adding the digits of your birth date.

If your birthday was September 1, 1966, you would start with the numbers 911966 = 9 + 1 + 1 + 9 + 6 + 6 = 32.

Now take those two numbers (3 and 2), and bring it down to a single digit: 3 + 2 = 5. That number -- in this case, 5 -- is your birth number.

Use the grid below to find a name that corresponds to the number 5, by calculating the sum of the corresponding letters.

1 = A, J, S

2 = B, K, T

3 = C, L, U

4 = D, M, V

5 = E, N, W

6 = F, O, X

7 = G, P, Y

8 = H, Q, Z

9 = I, R

Let’s say you’ve decide you like the name Willow. Using the letters in “Willow” you would take the numbers 5 + 9 + 3 + 3 + 6 + 5 = 32. From there, 3 + 2 = 5. If the name you like doesn’t match your birth numbers, try some creative or alternate spellings to see what happens.

A Gift from the Gods:
In some cases, you may be fortunate enough to have your new name bestowed upon you by a god or goddess. In these instances, you may encounter someone in a dream or a vision who tells you, “Your name is Such-and-such.” While you may choose to add to it or come up with a variation on it later, if this happens to you, accept the name as the gift that it is.

Whatever method you end up using, think carefully before you finalize your new name. While it’s okay to change your name later on as you evolve spiritually, changing your name every few weeks or every time you see a new episode of “Charmed” is probably not the best course of action. Find the name that is right for you -- and when it IS the right one, you will know.


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Anonymous - The Mystical Qabbalah
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Witchcraft As A Means For Subduing Female Influences

The subservience of women to men was a common theme in early Christian writings -- an outgrowth of both traditional patriarchal attitudes and the extreme hierarchical nature of the church itself. Groups which did not hold to hierarchy in any form were attacked immediately. There is no shared authority between the genders in traditional Christianity, either in the church or in the home. Homosexuality would be particularly threatening to this ideology, as it raises the potential of redefining gender roles, especially in the home.

Witness how the recent attacks upon homosexuality in society has progressed hand-in-hand with the mindless promotion of vague "traditional family values," particularly those which "put women in their place" and reinforce male dominance in the home. With a married couple of two women or two men, who exactly is supposed to be in charge and who meekly obedient? Never mind that the Christians who fear such relationships will never be asked to make those decisions themselves -- the mere fact that people are making such decisions on their own rather than obeying someone else's religious proclamations is quite enough to give them fits of apoplexy.

The perception of women as inferior to men, and possibly the enemy of proper religious or social order, has survived down through this day in the most conservative and fundamentalist religious movements around the world. Religious institutions and doctrines are a primary repository for ancient beliefs about the social, physical, political, and religious inferiority of women. Even if the rest of society is moving on and improving women's status, religion remains a main source of beliefs and attitudes which retard that progress in the hopes of reversing it completely. And, where women cannot be attacked directly, they are attacked indirectly through negative stereotypes about "feminine" values as compared to positive stereotypes of "manly" or "masculine" traits.

It would be a mistake to assert that the Christian persecution of witches and witchcraft was nothing but an attempt to suppress women and feminine influences. Christian society, politics, and theology at the time simply wasn't that simplistic. At the same time, it's hard to overestimate the role misogynistic attitudes and repressed male sexuality played in the persecution of witches. It seems likely that if they didn't exist, the extreme violence directed at women and alleged witches probably wouldn't have occurred.

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Peter De Abano - Heptameron Or Magical Elements
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Witchcraft And The Inquisition

As the Inquisition proceeded through the 1400s, its focus shifted from Jews and heretics towards so-called witches. Although Pope Gregory IX had authorized the killing of witches back in the 1200s, the fad just didn't catch on. In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued a bull declaring that witches did indeed exist and thus it became a heresy to believe otherwise. This was quite a reversal because in 906 the Canon Episocopi, a church law, declared that belief in the existence and operation of witchcraft was heresy.

The additional persecution of anything which resembled feminine religiosity went to interesting lengths in that devotion to Mary became suspect. Today the figure of Mary is both popular and important in the Catholic church, but to the Inquisition it was a possible sign of overemphasizing the feminine aspect of Christianity. In the Canary Islands, Aldonca de Vargas was reported to the Inquisition for nothing more than smiling at hearing mention of Mary.

As a result of this, church authorities tortured and killed thousands of women, and not a few men, in an effort to get them to confess that they flew through the sky, had sexual relations with demons, turned into animals, and engaged in various sorts of black magic. The image here depicts what Christians imagined went on at a court of witches where Satan presided.

People typically fear that which they don't understand, so witches were doubly damned: they were feared because they were allegedly agents of Satan seeking to undermine Christian society and they were feared because no one really knew what witches did or how. In the place of real knowledge or information, Christian leaders made things up and created stories which were certain to cause people to hate and fear witches even more.

People trusted their religious and political leaders to provide them with accurate information, but in reality the "information" provided was simply whatever furthered their leaders religious and political goals. Creating an enemy of out witches served the goal of increased religious and political cohesion because people would want to draw closer together in order to confront the enemy who wanted to destroy them. Isn't that ultimately more important than whether the stories were true or not?

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Gabor Klaniczay - Witchcraft Mythologies And Persecutions
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Witchcraft And Christianity

The earliest Christian document to examine witch craft was the Canon Episcopi, which appeared in round year 906, even though it may have been written centuries earlier. The canon was intended as a guide for the use of bishops in carrying out their duties.

Year 1324 in Ireland, in one of the most bizarre cases in the history of witch craft, this barrier collapsed as sorcery and rising religious concepts of the devil became inextricably entwined. The victim, Ireland’s first major witch, was neither helpless nor an aging crone, and desire for her property and power was certainly a significant motivation behind her trial. For lady Alice Kyteler was the wealthiest woman in Kilkenny when she was accused of being a witch. Her accuser, Bishop Richard de Ledrede, a Franciscan trained in France, was at the time less powerful than Lady Alice.

Among the charges brought against Lady Alice were that she denied Church allegiances, parodied religious ceremony, sacrificed animals, using the words ‘fi, fi, fi, amen’, creating powders and ointments containing worms, herbs, parts of dead men and unborn baby, and engaged in intimacies with a man who appeared as a cat and a black dog.

Even though she certainly was involved in practice of some sort of ritual magick, Lady Alice fought the charges repeatedly before finally seeking refuge in England. Unfortunately she left her maid Petronilla behind, and Petronilla was tortured until she admitted that her mistress was a sorceress of extraordinary talents and a participant in lavish nocturnal orgies.

Books You Might Enjoy:

Max Heindel - Teachings Of An Initiate
Samuel Sharpe - Egyptian Mythology And Egyptian Christianity
Jaroslav Nemec - Witchcraft And Medicine

Witchcraft Magick

Magick is the term used to classify different alternative and New Age practices into one category. All of these practices involve the cause of change by non-physical means, whether it be the power to transform oneself or others.

The word "Magick" was coined to differentiate serious magic from the staged, sleight of hand kind, such as is done by David Copperfield and others. In layman's terms, magick entails manipulating energy and focusing the will, often utilizing rituals and items containing certain properties, to accomplish a goal. This is admittedly a rather simple explanation, and the study and successful use of magick and magickal powers is a lifelong proposition. The annals of magickal history go back to the beginnings of mankind, and indeed, more information on magick has probably been lost in history than exists in all our resources today.

Magick is a powerful resource, and though it cannot be measured or proved by science, it cannot be disproved by science either. In and of itself, Magick is neither good or bad. The INTENT of the practitioner is what separates White Magick from Black Magick.

In modern America, the word Magick has become somehow intertwined with the wiccan religion, but this is not a very accurate correlation. Not every Wiccan practices Magick, and not everyone who practices Magick adheres to the Wiccan religion.

Magick and witchcraft are both essentially based on the fact that we, as spiritual beings, have innate powers to manipulate the world around us. The premise is that with practice, we can hone these innate powers to reach our aspirations and goals. Whether we use these powers for good or bad is up to us, and both scenarios will be covered on these pages. This page will strive to define the elements used in Magick and what they mean, pinpoint specific known properties of common magickal items and herbs, and provide tutorials aimed at tapping into the powers needed to successfully perform simple magick spells and rituals.

As always, if you have anything to contribute, we would very much appreciate hearing from you. Please feel free to visit the Message Board link below, or to privately E-Mail us. Also, do Bookmark and return often, as we update these pages daily.

Some of these practices include:
Alchemy: The process of trying to turn metal into gold.
Witchcraft/Wicca: Appealing to the God/ Goddess for change and healing.
Astral Projection: The practices of having a person’s soul leave the body for a period of time.
ESP: The ability to speak to another person without speech through use of their minds.

Books You Might Enjoy:

Gerald Gardner - Witchcraft Today
Jaroslav Nemec - Witchcraft And Medicine
Aleister Crowley - Intro Magick
Aleister Crowley - Magick

Witchcraft And Satanism

Witchcraft & Satanism: Linking Witches & Satan out of Ignorance, to Encourage Fear and Hatred

Christians in medieval and pre-modern Europe believed that Satan was a real being and that Satan was actively involved in the affairs of humans. Satan's goal was the corruption of humanity, the destruction of everything good, and the damnation of as many people as possible in hell. One means by which it was believed he accomplished this was through human agents to whom he gave supernatural powers.

Witches were easily categorized as servants of Satan. No longer merely adherents to a more ancient religious tradition, witches were targeted for prosecution as slaves of the cosmic enemy of God, Jesus, and Christianity. Instead of a healer or a teacher, the witch was made into an instrument of evil. The witch was portrayed -- and treated -- as worse than a heretic. This tactic was not limited to the medieval church's pursuit of witches.

Religious and political authorities of various eras and different cultures have always found it convenient to associate their enemies with the worst possible evil they could imagine. In the Christian west, this generally meant associating enemies with Satan. These sort of extreme demonization allows a person to stop seeing their enemy as entirely human and the conflict as something which does not require mercy, traditionally just procedures, or anything of the kind. The only just outcome is not merely the defeat the one's enemy, but their complete extermination. In a battle where one's very existence is at stake, survival becomes the only moral value worth upholding.

The above image depicts the "Witch's Kiss." It was believe that part of the rite of becoming a witch in Satan's service involved kissing Satan's rear. It should be remembered that insofar as there existed anyone who practiced the healing and divination techniques of older pagan traditions, they wouldn't have had anything to do with Satan. After all, Satan is a creation of Christianity and monotheistic traditions. Any "witches" who existed were pantheists or polytheists and wouldn't have believed in a Satan.

Books You Might Enjoy:

Wouter Hanegraaff - Dictionary Of Gnosis And Western Esotericism
Michael Majerus - Atalanta Fugiens
Vovim Baghie - The Grand Satanic Ritual
Gabor Klaniczay - Witchcraft Mythologies And Persecutions
Jaroslav Nemec - Witchcraft And Medicine

Traditional Witchcraft

Traditional witchcraft is a religious belief system that has been handed down to us through our traditions and conventions. Traditional Witchcraft predates most of the main religions of the world. Some people claim that this knowledge originated several millennia ago, as far back as Paleolithic period.

Though the witchcrafts across the world may have some regional and social dissimilarity, one common feature that runs through the witchcrafts of all the societies is that it is an earth based religion.

Traditional witchcraft is close to what is generally called paganism which is basically the worship of nature. Witchcraft and paganism, as we all know are opposed by Christianity.

Witchcraft in Ancient Times

The mainstay of the people in ancient times was agriculture which depended upon the seasons. The seasons, in turn, were associated with the movement of Earth, Sun and Moon. The people believed in spirits and gods and goddesses and they associated them with Earth, Sun and Moon.

The agriculture year ended with the completion of harvest and sowing of new seeds for the crop in the New Year. This is the reason why Pagans and traditional witches consider Samhain as the agricultural year.

Believers in traditional witchcraft do not follow any guide book, nor do they believe in a singular god or deity. They believe in an all powerful nature. The practitioners of traditional witchcraft have their covens. They select the coven leaders on the basis of their knowledge and experience.

They believe in the existence of spirits and in the equality of all the living beings in the universe. They also, at the same time, recognize their different status. Though they believe in the existence of the deities, yet they call up only the spirits for assistance.

Witches consider that although the spirit world and the physical world are linked, yet they are separate. The only time this veil of separation between the two worlds becomes thin is on the night of Samhain.

Traditional witches use witchcraft in a very practical way. For example, they use herbs to cure the diseases. They may also use hexes and curses in certain cases.
Traditional witchcraft attaches great importance to pentagram and use it for protection, healing and magic. Pentagram itself symbolizes the basic elements such as the earth, fire, water, air and spirit.

Books You Might Enjoy:

Mike Nichols - Eight Sabbats Of Witchcraft
Archmage Bob Andrews - Old Witchcraft Secrets
Tarostar - The Witchs Spellcraft Revised
Paul Huson - Mastering Witchcraft
Michael Bailey - Historical Dictionary Of Witchcraft

Tantra And Witchcraft Defamed As Black Magic Tricks Violating Moral Ethics

"Both - tantra and witchcraft - were defamed as black magic tricks violating moral ethics of society... tantric practitioners in India and witches all over the world were killed en-mass during ancient and medieval periods of history." - I stated the well-known historical fact in front of Eva. "Were they really magicians?" - She looked at me in disbelief.

"Honesty is the biggest magic - not the Black Magic using evil magic tricks - and they were honest to the core of their heart. And when their heart said, "Love", they did. How could our artificial moral ethics - that we humans have built our monumental culture on the foundation of - tolerate getting jolted at its very base? They charged them with immorality, satanic ritual abuse, blood libel, spells, necromancy, idolatry, wicca and shamanism; which ultimately resulted in large scale repression of the both - massacre of the saivist tantra practitioners in Kashmir by the proponents of yoga and witch-hunts along with witch-burning at the hands of people and religious and political establishments of the lands and the times the world over!" - I dug a little bit of history to her. "Yes, I heard things like that." - She was looking to be in pain. I stopped for a while... to play the game of life a bit slower...

Books You Might Enjoy:

Tupman Tracy Ward - Theatre Magick Aleister Crowley And Rites Of Eleusis
Douglas Ezzy - Practising The Witchs Craft Real Magic Under A Southern Sky
Cassandra Eason - A Practical Guide To Witchcraft And Magic Spells

Native American Witchcraft

Native American witchcraft was basically allied with the religious beliefs of the natives of the region. In fact religion and witchcraft were alike in many ways. Both the witchcraft and the religious beliefs held the nature sacred. Many of their symbols and ideas came from nature. Old religion was closer to the spirit of the Native American traditions and witchcraft.

Each region of Native America had its unique kind of witchcraft which used different kinds of amulets and charms. They had their own rituals and masks. The practitioners of witchcraft wore costumes specific to the region. They had their own carvings, totem poles and performed ceremonies according to the area where they lived. In spite of all these regional differences they all shared a sense of awareness and oneness with their land, plants and creatures of Native America.

They looked to their land for providing them the raw material for their magic and witchcraft. The material included herbs, stones, feathers and bones besides Articles for preparing the medicines, tools and other instruments such as charms, costumes and masks. The witches had deep faith in the power of nature and tried to maintain a sense of unity with its invisible forces.

The witches and medicine men used several methods and tools to diagnose the ailments of the patients such as crystal rocks and using their trembling hands in a state of trance. Some times they chanted some sacred hymns while diagnosing the diseases.

The shamans, usually women, served the community by performing ceremonies to cure several diseases and ward off evil influences over the weather and the harvest. Herbs used to be an important medium of curing the sick persons.

There is also a reference to a sacred pipe which was very important symbol of witchcraft. Sacred pipe symbolized the medicine wheel and all the four directions in the same space. Pinches of tobacco along with some grains were placed in the pipe which was also used for lamenting.
Owl had a very important place in the witch craft of those days. Owl was considered a symbol of bad luck. An owl sent by a witch could not be killed.

Books You Might Enjoy:

Gerald Gardner - Witchcraft Today
Louise Huebner - Witchcraft For All
Paul Huson - Mastering Witchcraft

Medieval Witchcraft

Witchcraft refers to the use of certain occult and spiritual practices to seek the assistance of the supernatural powers in resolving the problems whose solutions can not be achieved through the known rational means. The process involves reciting prayers and performing rituals in a certain specific format or craft. Prayers and rituals when performed with utmost sincerity and faith do quite often fructify into the desired results. Since there is no reasonable explanation for the manifestation of the result, they are termed miracles or magic. witchcraft is therefore considered synonymous with magic.

Witchcraft has existed since man was born and he had to struggle for his survival against the unpredictable and unmanageable forces of nature such as famines, rains, floods, epidemics or some other occurrences at personal level which could not be easily explained. Witchcraft had all the more reason to exist in the medieval times when human knowledge was still at a rudimentary stage and there appeared no other solution to day-to-day problems that confused and befuddled the people of those times.

In their desperation to seek the desired results, some times the practitioners of the witchcraft went out of the way of prayers and resorted to certain extreme practices and rituals such as the use of blood and so on or invoking evil spirits for help. Moreover witchcraft, like every other branch of knowledge, was manipulated and misused by vested interests. A few such cases here and there gained wide spread notoriety and provided the ecclesiastic powers, which commanded influence in formulating the secular policies of the kings and rulers of those times, an excuse to brand the witches or wizards as agents of the evil or Satanic powers. Now Satan is considered the greatest enemy of the Church and therefore God. Consequently any person who was suspected to be indulging in witchcraft was hounded out and persecuted with the punishment of death through hanging or burning at stake.

Persons accused of practicing the witchcraft were labeled as heretics. Once caught, the victim was coerced into confessing his crime through inhuman tortures and was either hanged or burnt alive during the inquisition. The law against the witchcraft was further exploited by the vested interests to score personal vendetta or to snatch the property or land of victims. Some influential persons in the society, in collusion with the priests, would manage to arouse suspicions against their targets as being witches or wizards. They victims were arrested, made to confess and killed.

Witches were generally portrayed as ugly old hags so as to make them the target of dislike and hatred, but the matter of fact is that they were and still are quite normal men and women and in some case witches were and are quite pretty and presentable ladies.

The witches used scrolls for witchcraft in those times. Some of them survive even today. Besides the spells, the witches also used some herbs and animal parts to make potions to cure some diseases and heal the wounds. Potions were brewed in cauldrons in order to combine them properly. Cauldrons were often made of wood, but other materials such as stones were also used. These potions, though denigrated as superstitious, were quite efficacious in those times as they are equally efficacious now.

A widely used tool of witchcraft was a broom. The use of broom can be traced to the peasants, both men and women, who used them to fertilize their crops. They would, then, ride on the top of them as horses.

In some cases, the priests were genuinely concerned about the souls of the ‘witches’ and burnt them alive for their salvation. The case of Joan of Arc, who was later canonized as Saint Joan is one of the most glittering examples of such acts of papal fanaticism. She was branded as a heretic or a witch and burnt alive on stake.

Books You Might Enjoy:

Medieval Grimoires - The Picatrix
Mike Nichols - Eight Sabbats Of Witchcraft
Paul Huson - Mastering Witchcraft

How To Learn Witchcraft

Witchcraft or wicca is a pagan religion--a religion of nature.

The first step to learn witchcraft is to study the religion itself.

You can do this by studying as many books and journals both offline and online. This will enable you to understand the basic tenets and beliefs of the witchcraft. Since witchcraft is the religion of nature, it would do you much good to directly go into the lap of nature to experience its feel, to read books from brooks and sermons in stones. Watch the flight of birds through the glorious sunrises and sunsets across the mountains and seas. Look with wonder at the earth and sky, which are the bodies of the God and Goddess. Now take a notebook and write down why you want to become a witch. How do you visualize the God and Goddess? Be honest. Later on this notebook shall become your Book of Shadows.

The next step is to explore the magic.

Magic is not a hocus pocus way of bending the laws of nature to suit your needs. The magic of the witchcraft is to raise and channel energy that is within you to bring it in harmony with the nature to achieve the desired result.

For this you need to understand the fundamental principles of

* casting circles,
* calling quarters,
* invoking God/ goddess,
* raising and directing the energies
* and finally, grounding, centering and closing the circle.

Try to understand the various phases of the moon, its waxing, growing full and waning and their effect on your moods and body.

You must also do some meditation and visualization exercises to increase your concentration and focus. Learn to derive strength from the earth, sun, moon and stars. Learn to be still, calm and quiet and hear the voice of God and Goddess when they call you.

Now you can begin your basic spell work starting with your new moon ritual.

Do not go after the word-for-word rituals that you read everywhere. These are only the guidelines. Write down your own rituals. Having done that you should dedicate yourself to the Witchcraft. Then you may join some coven or network of your fellow Wiccans. You must be particular about the ethical aspect of performing witchcraft. If you try to harm someone with your magical powers, you will face the results of your ill intended actions very soon.

Books You Might Enjoy:

Michael Harrison - The Roots Of Witchcraft
Gerald Gardner - Witchcraft Today
Paul Huson - Mastering Witchcraft