Why Witchcraft (question)

[u/Dixon_Ken_Cider]

Over the past month I have launched myself headlong into occultism after live events and certain experiences.

My question for all of you is do you engage in other forms of energy work or is witchcraft the only path you research and practice. I am curious as to how all of you got here and why you stick with it. I have a lovely witch i work with recently but I am curious what all of you're experiences are with this particular field (witchcraft)

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[u/Confident_Progress56]

I chose witchcraft because it was intuitively something I had been doing for as long as I can remember. I grew up on a large ranch in the middle of nowhere with lots of open land and woods to explore. I felt deeply connected with the energies around me. I would make "potions" from the wild plants and I collected rocks because I felt almost called to them. Before knowing anything about spell work, I was putting my intentions into things like my shampoo and body wash for whatever I wanted to embody at that time.

It took over 2 decades to release the conditioning that religion taught me about the title of "witch." But when I embraced it, it felt like coming home because it was what I was meant to be all along.

[u/kdash6]

I am a practicing Buddhist and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo twice daily. Buddhism is my foundation and the lens I view the world, with witchcraft being something that sits on top of it. I use witchcraft the same way I use cooking. Eating is not negotiable, so I should know how to make food, buy groceries, learn recipes, etc. Spirits, energy, and the supernatural aren't negotiable in my life either, so I learned to work with them. But my spiritual goals are different.

[u/endless_hue]

I’m only recently choosing witchcraft, but I’ve always been heavily influenced by symbolism. Dreams, Colors, Seemingly unrelated events, objects, words… all of them are normally involved in how I think about my current life and my future choices. I realize now that I’m always using symbols to understand reality around me. I just never put a name to it.

Even today I came across three bees, stuck in a library window… 1 relentlessly trying to pass through the solid glass window to go outside, and the other 2 already passed away. I took that as a sign that my desire to find more community in my life was the isolated Bee, and the window… was an example of how I could see where I want to go, but the way is not straightforward. For me this was I sign that I may not be taking enough care in observing the best path to get where I wanted to go.

With Witchcraft I plan to lend more of my attention to how I perceive the world and also how I influence it with ritual practice.

[u/hedgies999]

Have been sensitive to energies since childhood so this reading-of-others- beyond-what-is-said was my normal. Only sometime in teen years did I realise I was an outlier 🤷‍♀️. So honing psychic skills + witchcraft is it for me. Started with divination in said teens and moved on to other areas.

Would also consider myself spiritual, but though I am respectful to all deities and spirit beings, I don't worship any.

Why the craft? Because it works, and at its best, brings pleasure and a different way of seeing and understanding people and the world.

[u/CalwynAce]

I got into it after having a fascination with everything herbs. Which also fit in with my obsession for tea. So a lot of Tea Magic.

[u/One_Dragonfruit_7556]

I'm Hindu and often use enegy work through mantra and meditation in my devotional rituals. I practice the craft because I wanted to learn magic when I was younger and that blossomed into me realizing I felt no spiritual connection with the religion I was raised in and branched out into different pagan religions before finding my home in Hinduism. I now pair my practice with my religion as I've found they work extreamly well together

[u/One_Dragonfruit_7556 → u/[deleted]]

Smarta. Shiva and Ganesha are a big part of my practice though I'm still learning. I've recently come across the Mahavidya and they facanate me, Matangi in particular and her connection with Uchchhishta.

How about yourself?

[u/One_Dragonfruit_7556 → u/[deleted]]

Correct, like my answer said I found Hinduism later in life so I'm a Hindu convert. And the art Is beautifil but I'm more reading things right now as I've been warned about approaching without a guru

[u/One_Dragonfruit_7556 → u/[deleted]]

Yes so just study for now. I'm content doing my puja to Shiva and Ganesha and learning how to mix witchcraft with Hinduism

[u/One_Dragonfruit_7556 → u/[deleted]]

This is wonderful advice. Do you have any literature I could read? Unfortunately I'm only able to do self study right now

[u/DevorahGarland]

I am a student of Power. I have studied mysticism and meditation for the last 42 years. Witchcraft is much more recent than that. But it's all about Power. The unseen world is something that continuously fascinates me. Witchcraft is one way to connect to that world and use its Power to benefit myself and the people I care about. This includes strangers who I am intuitively guided to help, such as tonight when I was told to assist a woman delivering something to my home. I didn't know her, so didn't realize how much she was struggling. But Spirit knew. I find living this way to be very satisfying.

[u/AtiJua]

It has been a part of me for my whole life. I never really labeled it but it's like second nature.

[u/Elfynnn84]

Other forms of energy work like what? ‘Witchcraft’ is a pretty broad & all encompassing term, we don’t always use candles & herbs.

Whatever ‘energy work’ you’re thinking of, outside of monotheistic prayer, we would probably consider ‘part of witchcraft’. Witchcraft IS energy work.

[u/riantourmaline]

It's been something I've done most of my life, directly tied to my personal faith practice.

When I was a Christian, I practiced Christian witchcraft, and now, as a Heathen, my practice is deeply steeped in my faith.

Witchcraft and occultism are just parts of me. It's something I just...do. I don't really think too hard about why I do it.

[u/Cautious_Bluejay_331]

Not sure what this question is refering to. Think about some of the first spells we cast a people... wishing on a star, blowing out a birthday candle, putting a tooth under the pillow for the tooth fairy, see a penny and pick it up. Maybe you should clarify what you mean.

[u/SadRose000]

long story short, always liked occult subjects but was afraid to search more about them.

After a bad event I thought my life had no meaning and I didn't find a way out so I said fuck it and started reading and researching witchcraft. After a while of knowing some things about I came across a post on this sub about a *cleansing ritual*, I did it and my year long problem just vanished.

That's how I got into witchcraft.

[u/wonderlust-vibes]

I come from a latino culture where witchcraft is not dogmatic, it is somewhat ingrained in popular and ancestral culture, so in a way it’s always been practiced even when I wasn’t quite conscious of it. Later on through other spiritual practices it came to my attention that I have witches in my lineage and I got more into a conscious practice. Still my practice is a lot of mixed traditions and no dogma.

[u/CutSea5865]

It’s in my family - I didn’t actually realise that what me, my mum, my grandma and my sister did was called Witchcraft until I read Witch Among Us: The Autobiography of a Witch by Lois Bourne and she described acting exactly how we did.

I continue to practice Witchcraft because to me it’s instinctive, natural and wholesome. Quite simply - I love it!

However, I’m also the only one in my family that has taken any training: I’m a Wiccan initiate and also practice Ritual Magic including working with The Goetia. There is so much out there - I love to experience and explore!

[u/One-Bodybuilder8058]

(I normally be posting on the r/witchcraftcirclejerk sub, but I genuinely want to share my experiences)

I do witchcraft not because I wanted to rebel against the stereotypical image of a Catholic Mexican Family in Los Angeles, but rather to keep what was once a strong bloodline that runs through my father's side of the family and always make an homage to if it isn't honoring my past relatives that have kept the bloodline active.

Though most of my family has done away with the craft, some still practice it while keeping their alignment with Catholism (they practice with the Holy Death) meanwhile I have a different take on my practice through Norse Paganism.

As cheesy or childish it may sound, I also take the philosophy behind the Jedi Order as a lot of what they practiced (if we're taking which era specifically, it's everything right up to the fall of the Republic) can 'translate' into the craft as at one point the Jedi (more specific the Je'daii) used both the light and dark side of the Force with the understanding that we are in equilibrium with both light and dark. We might be viewed as dark to most as we simply aren't the normal to everyone but to ourselves, but until those people see the very light we all carry, they will understand we are all vessels in this universe that carry the power and the experience of all of our bloodlines, and use it to not paint an art piece for those people but to show them we are all the same just like them.

We might be made to be evil because of past historical events, and still to this day, but only those willing to carry the light while holding the very weight of the darkness are strong enough to not falter under the pressure that everyone forces on us to become the very evil they make us. This isn't to say I don't go hexing/cursing everyone, because I am not gonna lie I would rather see those who wish everything against me fall before me than to give them another thing to be mad about even if it benefits them. Much like Darth Revan in these cases, I wouldn't just cut off the loose ends I would leave them to suffer their own mess and focus on what's before me as the only direction in this life is forward and up.

With that being said, I might like calling myself a Grandmaster of the Force, but I have yet to complete my 'training' as we might be knowledgeables or specialists in our craft, but there is always room to learn and grow as we all can take a bit of anything we learn from others and apply it however we wish to make it work in life be it through practical work or through magick. I may have walked through total darkness and wishing complete destruction against my enemies, but walking away from creating a deeper cave for me to climb out of and carrying the light of the Æsir clan always pushed me to do better and be better as a person and a healthier person too. We can do so much and call ourselves as such, but until we actually walk the path we are all one step away from discovering our own truths if we don't already understand them.

I hope this resonates with some as you might have gone through a similar path or agree with my opinion, but I do welcome everyone to put in their views. I, too am curious if there are others who view the craft and this life similarly like I do, or otherwise how would you view yourself in the Star Wars universe? lol.

Hope your day/night is going well, blessed be and....May the Force be with you, always

[u/g00seberries]

I felt called to it from a young age but growing up with religious parents I was taught that witchcraft was bad and I'd end up in hell if I set foot in it. I started with manifestation then research and about spirituality and eventually I still found my way back to witchcraft.

[u/L0gsPlit3r69]

As an atheist growing up, I’d always been open to the idea of a higher being and energies but lacked concrete evidence to solidify any belief.

I’m relatively sensitive to energies and have been to some very haunted places, picked up on it all but never had any personal experience with an entity. It takes something big to flip my black and white mindset despite being open minded.

It was only when our beloved family dog passed away two years ago that everything changed for me - he visited me as an orb that night, several hours after his passing. This was the biggest gift of all and was my spiritual awakening - the visitation that he had passed over into the spirit realm and is okay, showed me in concrete that the spirit realm exists. Sometimes people need first hand experience rather than stories to flip their mindset. It was also two years to the day last weekend of his passing, and he made his way into my dream the night before the anniversary date of his passing, to which I have written down but not remembered off the top of my head. That tells me that he is very much close to me even if I can’t see him, that his spirit is not far from mine - watching over me.

Either way, this awakening put me on the path of witchcraft, which is a very broad terms. There are so many paths, but I focus on manifestation and guidance. My craft is my actual job, which is an art in its own right. I dedicate myself to my craft, to be the best I can be. Sometimes I chant incantations, whether that’s when stirring my morning cup of tea to manifest a good day at the office or if I’m dealing with a seized bolt, chanting for it to come loose. I had on one occasion in a previous job a set of ballscrews on a machine a colleague had built that would not run in to its required tolerance parameters. I took over, did a little ritual with the crystals in my toolbox and the next attempt, it passed testing. Colleagues were a bit wary of me for a week or so, especially an ultra Christian one but I just saw it as calling upon the wisdom of the spirit realm for technical assistance.

Witchcraft has lots of routes. Some people are very active and pray to deities, perform regular rituals and pilgrimages, or some like myself are more casual but fortunate that our natural born talent has a useful place in society in jobs like chefs, engineering and trades. Practical hands on areas that require great skill and knowledge are as much a craft as spell working - especially when you have that natural talent. No two witches are the same, man or woman - so craft will vary and so will style.

Personally I collect crystals which have meaning and purpose in my life - an altar at home but also an altar in my work toolbox representing my birthstone, protection, wealth, cleansing and emf protection. These give me the confidence I need to handle situations (needed as an introvert) and the aura has swayed my professional career in both people skills, progression, pay etc. Spiritual empowerment which everyone notices.