THE WITCH'S CORNER

 Lady Amythyst Raine

The following three types of occult practices-- Hoodoo, Wicca, and Green Witchcraft-- make up the path that I follow on my journey in "The Craft".

 

HOODOO

Hoodoo consists of a large body of African folkloric practices and beliefs with a considerable admixture of American Indian botanical knowledge and European folklore. Although most of its adherents are black, contrary to popular opinion, it has always been practiced by both whites and blacks in America. Other regionally popular names for hoodoo in the black community include "conjuration", "conjure", "witchcraft", "rootwork", and "tricking". The first three are simply English words; the fourth is a recognition of the pre-eminence that dried roots play in the making of charms and the casting of spells, and the fifth is a special meaning for a common English word.



 
 For more information on HooDoo, click on the image above.     
WICCA

Wicca is a neo-pagan religion based on the pre-Christian traditions of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Its origins can be traced even further back to Paleolithic peoples who worshipped a Hunter God and a Fertility Goddess. Cave paintings found in France (and dated at 30,000 years old) depict a man with the head of a stag, and a woman with a swollen, pregnant belly. They stand in a circle with eleven mortals. These archetypes of the divine are worshipped by Wiccans to this very day. By these standards, the religion that is now called Wicca, is perhaps the oldest religion in the world.

In 1951, the laws against Witchcraft were repealed in England. A man named Gerald Gardner was the first to come into the public eye with a description of what modern witches were practicing. His information came from the traditions of a coven called the New Forest Witches, and from Ceremonial Magick and the Cabballah. He began what is now called the Gardnerian Tradition of Wicca. From Gardnerian came Alexandrian Tradition, and a host of other offshoots that today number in the hundreds.



 

For more information on Wicca, click on the image above.
  
 
GREEN WITCHCRAFT

Green witchcraft is a personalized practise, differing from person to person, incorporating the use of herbs in magick, use of everyday items in magick, and possibly a religious belief system as well, which also will differ from practitioner to practitioner. There is no one, established tradition of green witchcraft.

"A Green Witch is a woman of power, whose religion is her life, whose life is her art, and whose art is the wise use of the green." 



 
For more information on Green Witchcraft, you can visit Ann Moura's official website: http://www.annmourasgarden.com/
 

A “Code of Ethics” is important to follow, not only to avoid harming others, but to avoid harming yourself.

Magick is not a game, and to conduct magick, you must accept that it is real, and that it therefore carries consequences.

Rules of Conduct

1.  Be careful what you do.

The first rule warns you to think through the details of any spell or magickal working rather than leaping into action.  You have to look at the situation objectively and ensure that your magick will perform as intended without stifling another person’s freedom and individuality.

2.  Be careful who you trust.

This rule may have come down from the persecutions of midwives, herbalists, and others who held to the “Old Ways” in the past.  And so, keeping quiet about magickal practices was a necessity for survival.  Your need to judge wisely, based upon your own circumstances, makes this rule pertinent even today.

3.  Do not use the power to hurt another because what is sent out comes back.

This rule means that the energies/entities/deities you invoke will eventually travel full circle, and so you want to move energy (whether light or dark) in a positive manner.  Magick should never be used frivolously for revenge over some issue.  The energy released will draw energy back to you.

4.  Never use the power against someone who has the power, for you both draw from the same well.

This rule means that there is kinship among magick workers.  In Celtic Traditions, the ties of kinship are based upon blood.  But for the witch, the ties of kinship are of spirit.  We of the Craft are related through energy as brothers and sisters, and as such, no matter how we interact on a personal basis, we are still kin to each other and deserve to be treated with respect.

5.  To use the power, you must feel it in your heart and know it in your mind.

The last rule speaks to the internal working of magickal energy.  This means that magick is not a matter of faith, but a matter of knowing.  It is “kenned”.  The sensation is actually very casual, often considered a type of altered state, or “alpha” state.  Once you have experienced this sensation, you will always recognize it.

The above code of ethics is one that I try to follow on a personal level. 

 However... 

I have a viewpoint on "karma" and "curses" and magick, both black and white, that is a bit different than most pagans/witches/wiccans that I've encountered.

I feel that keeping people in line with the fear of "karma" is much the same as Christianity keeping people in line with the threat of hell and eternal punishment. I don't buy into either idea.

I embrace magick-- both black and white-- with no qualms and no feelings of guilt.  And why shouldn't I-- my very being is made up of both light and dark aspects. 

I'm a very eclectic Witch-- I practice not only green witchcraft with some aspects of Wicca, but Hoodoo as well-- the good old fashioned "get your hands dirty" type of Louisiana "root work".  If I feel threatened, "pushed", cornered, treated unfairly, or I feel that my family is threatened in any way, believe me...I will pull out all the stops and do some foot stompin' old black magick from the big black book.

I am one with the Universe.

I am no-thing and I am everything.

I am the stars and the moon...

the seas and the storms,

the breath of life,

the alchemical change,

the living and the dead...

I Am!

I am the power and the joy.

I am the spirit that dances.

I am the Magick and the Priestess...

the Witch and the Sorceress,

the Angels and the Elements.

Omnipotent, omnipresent...

I Am!

Lady Amythyst is a legally ordained member of the clergy.

(Ordained November 10, 2007, by R. A. Zorger, President of The Church of Spiritual Humanism)

The music on this page:  "Flight of the Wild Geese"

by  Joannie Madden

CD:  Song of the Irish Whistle