Spells?

[mazdaaf]

i personally prefer psi to witchcraft and i believe that this site is more based on psi that witchcraft too. Its just that by doing spells and such you are using other forces to do stuff for you, unlike psi where you are training yourself to do things the natural way. if you want to do cool things, learn psi...i really dont advise witchcraft.

[FreeFaller]

isnt witchcraft called Wicca?

[Fat_Turkey]

Maybe Wicca is the same as witchcraft, perhaps it is a subsection.

As far as "cool" outcomes, all I've ever thought was cool was when I cast a circle of protection and ended up having the best night's sleep in a long time.

-FT

[TriCelticFive]

How do you psi, mazdaaf?

[Silversunset]

OOC mazdaaf - why do you 'suggest against' witchcraft?

and TriCelt - spells are not done to be 'cool' they actually need a purpose. try being more specific, you may get a better response.

[Moonburn33]

Wicca is a type of witchcraft.  there are many cultures who practice witchcraft and have been doing it for milennia.

[James S]

As opposaed to what a lot of people now think, the terms Wicca (male) Wicce (female) and Wiccan (the practice) have been around a very long time, and goes back to pre-christian Celtic paganism to describe their form of natural magic.

Wicca, as far as I know is only one branch of witchcraft. Were Tisha here she'd be able to tell you more here as she practices a very old Italian form of witchcraft.

Though Wicca is very old (like we're talking thousands of years here), it was made popular in the 1950's by Gerald Gardener who started forming covens to practice the secret arts of Celtic magic (kept secret because practicing witchcraft was still a criminal offence then). He did not start Wicca, as many believe, he simply started a branch of it called Gardenerian Wicca.

Ok, now that the history lesson is out of the way, Wicca, Celtic magic, Natural magic, whatever you want to call it is not about making the spells do things. Spells are really mainly ceremonies to call upon the spirits of the four elements to assist you in whtever task is needed. In fact, the spells or ceremonies are really about giving the left brain something logical and sequential to do so that it is able to accept the fact that the right brain is basically calling things into being "out of thin air", for want of a better way of putting it.

The spirits do have a great deal to do with it, but then this is no different to most other mystical practices., Witchcraft is just as much about drawing on your own powers from within. The practice gives you a conduit and the ceremonies focus the intent. In this respect, witchcraft is very much like "psi" powers - the both call upon the "God" energy that is within every one of us and gives it a direction in which to manifest. Without proper preparation, excercise and training, neither witchcraft nor psi are going to do you much good.

You also definitely do not achieve anything by going into it just to see what "cool" stuff you can do. Witchcraft / Wicca isn't a hobby, its a belief, a spiritual path and an entire way of life.

One last thing, a lot of psychics are witches. You will find most Witches / Wiccans who are dedicated to their craft have quite potent psychic powers. The practice tends to bring that out in you.

Regards,
James.

[Moonburn33]

i'm just making a few corrections to your post, james (no disrespect or anything like that)

i've read places where the word Wicca actually means something completely unrelated to witchcraft- but i have no way of validating those sources, so i'll leave that alone and assume you're right.

there is very little of real celtic magic in gardnerian wicca.  most of it consists of stuff taken directly from the Golden Dawn and adapted to meet a more "earthy" demographic.  Gardner was in cahoots with Aleister Crowley previous to the publishing of Gardner's revolution.  It's curious to note that Crowley gave him license to start of O.T.O. orders (think Golden Dawn type stuff) concurrent to his supposed inception of Wicca.  the reason why Gardner published his works around that time was because that was when the occult was made legal in england.  There was also no evidence given that Gardner himself ever practiced with Traditional witches at all- most experts think that it gave him an added air of expertise that helped him sell books and get ladies.
there is nothing or very little in common with Celtic traditional witchcraft and Wicca.  the Rede was written by one of Gardner's female buddies and no system of behavior and ethics can be likened to it in trad. witchcraft previous to it.

one more note:  the four element scheme was invented to Pythagoras, a greek philospher- and the philosophy is absent from most traditional circles.

everything else is great.

[James S]

Hi Moonburn,
Thanks for your info on Gardener, It fills in a few holes in my understanding of the time. He seems to be the one people label as beeing the one that started wicca, but you're right, his 'secret' rituals dont have that much to do with Celtic wiccan practices. He kind of went out on a branch all of its own, with a few bits taken from here and there.  

I just checked where I got the link between wicca and witchcraft - its from DJ Conway's book  - Celtic Magic. I checked an online dictionary of origins and she's correct -  "wicca" is the old Anglo-saxon word that the word "witch" originally came from, meaning "wise one" In Old English, the word wicca was pronounced "witcha" hence witch, and the beliefs and practice of the wicca became known as witchcraft (craft of the wise ones). Wicca was the male form, and wicce - pronounced "witcheh" the female. Today though wicca is the common word for both sexes. I was wrong in my last post about the term "wiccan" - it doesn't relate directly to the practice, it is just the plural form of wicca.

So from what your saying, it seems as much as "wicca" did originally come from the Celtic pagan beliefs in the magic of the elements - a.k.a. witchcraft, Gardener used the term for something more of his own devising.
Ah, the power of modern advertising![]

So the practices had just been made legal in England at the time?
I guess they must have still been considered illegal in the U.S., because there was all the 'secrecy' about the rituals.

Oh yes,
How many Gardenerians does it take to change a light bulb?
Can't tell you - its a secret!
[]

Take care,
James.

[Moonburn33]

look at that.. this respect thing just might work for me dealing with disagreements here... no blood.. no fur flying.  all in all that was good stuff, james.

[James S]

Totally agree!

We both had some info to throw into the mix - It's all good.

Interesting about the influence Pythagoras had! Never knew that!! Makes sense though, and I suppose before the Roman Empire made a mess of the Celts, the Celtic society inhabited lands fairly close to the greeks.  

[]
Take care,
James.

[Mistic-Idan]

quote:Originally posted by TriCelticFive

Does anyone know any spells with "cool" outcomes?  (If you tried it: What happened?)

I have a spell for you. I am not a sorcerer and I don't do those stuff anymore, but I know a spell that will prouve you that demons are real, it's forbidden according to the Bible but it always works!

this exercice is a spell that will make demons from the other dimention to come near you and shift a bible book. It would answer to any Yes/no question that you'll ask and it tells truth!

I will explain more about this spell and how to do it just if someone here tells that he wants to learn it.

[Rydel]

doing spells just to get cool results seems pointless to me... but a good site on psi magic... at least in my opionion is psipog.com. It has good information on making psi balls and such.

[Mistic-Idan]

We are talking here about spells - abnatural acts.

I don't suggest on messing with sorcery and spells, it's very dangerous but I don't care to teach what I know.

[techno_fantasyix]

Hey everyone -

    Wicca is a very new (about 50-60 years old) religion that is based on both Western fertility practices and the Hindu tantric cult. One of the founders spent some time in India and it shows.
    One can practice witchcraft without Wicca. Wicca is  a religion that incoporates witchcraft but many witches are not Wiccan.Also, not all Wiccans practice witchcraft.
    On the subject of spells, there are many UNSAFE things that are taught that makes things end up very badly.One of the main things that seem to go wrong is that people summon negative energies on purpose or on accident.Why? I have heard that the reason for this is because that the earth's vibratory field is closer to the lower realms than that of the higher and therefore you are much more likely to be encountering negative energy.
    I think another reason why magical practices sometimes call in negative energy is the fact that people usually want things for themselves.This isn't really NECCESSARILY a bad thing in ordinary reality but on the spiritual planes it can be dangerous.Tending to focus on one's self in them bring in negative entities.
    - Utmost caution is appreciated in this arena.

[TriCelticFive]

Does anyone know any spells with "cool" outcomes?  (If you tried it: What happened?)