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Spellcraft

by Deborah Lipp


What is the difference between Wicca and witchcraft? Well, that's a trick question, because both words have multiple definitions, and some of those definitions are controversial. Fortunately, you haven't inadvertently landed in the middle of an article about word definitions!

Regardless of the nuances of each word and the various ways each is used, we can broadly agree that Wicca describes something we are—our religion, spirituality, and/or self-description, whereas witchcraft describes something we do. The "craft" part is in there on purpose.

Aleister Crowley famously described magic(k) as a "science and art." That's a fun thing to think about, because a science is something we apply our left-brain facilities to: Thinking, methodology, rationality, and so on, whereas art is entirely right-brained: Creative, intuitive, spontaneous, and expressive. Magic is definitely both of these things. It's both predictable and unpredictable, both explainable and ineffable.

But when you add craft into the mix, you're talking about actually doing something, and that's so important. Here's what I mean: Science gives you measurements, and tools, and the ability to determine angles and joints, and the knowledge to create a hinge. Art gives you beauty, color, and exuberant self-expression. But only craft combines the two to build, paint, and decorate a jeweled wooden box.  Unlike an oil painting, a decorated box has mundane use. Unlike a scientifically-designed box, a decorated box is a thing of beauty.

Craft is practical. There are many forms of magic that are entirely theurgic, having to do with spiritual elevation rather than real-world results. Now, I would never demean the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, nonetheless, the traditional concerns of "low magic:" job, money, home, health, love, and fertility, have a vital and necessary part to play in witchcraft.

Religion alone can be self-serving, even self-absorbed. The work of a witch, the performance of a craft, keeps us humble and focused on the big picture. As a witch, I know I have a job to do, and that job is casting spells.

And so, I conclude that the art of spellcraft is, indeed, essential to the modern witch, and perhaps to the modern Wiccan as well. At least, I find it indispensable. Yet, I think the practice of day-to-day witchery is not much taught these days. As a new religious movement burgeons, it is perhaps not surprising that the meat-and-potatoes work of spellcraft takes a back seat.
Spells are powered by energy, so the first thing that you need to understand in order to do a spell is where energy comes from and how to get more of it. In fiction, you open a magic book and the page gleams with power. In real life, you open a magic book and the page probably gleams with typos. You, the practitioner, must power the spell in order for it to be more than words on the page.

A lot of people liken spells to prayer. In fact, I've used that analogy myself. It's a simple , non-threatening way to explain to an outsider what all that "magic" stuff is about. But it's not entirely accurate.

The "Spell is Prayer" analogy basically says that both spells and prayers have a stated intention (true for almost all spells and for many prayers) and that both seek to bring about their intentions through the power of God or the Gods. But many mainstream (Christian and Jewish) theologians and clergy object to prayer as "wishcraft." Rather than seeking an outcome, they'd say, the person praying should merely seek God's will. If you're going to see applying your own will to the outcome as sinful, you're definitely going to have a problem with witches doing spells, and no equivalency of spell and prayer is going to help.

But it's more than that. It's that the Gods are a source of power. A source, not the source. In terms of achieving a goal, prayer is a technique by which "asking" is the method, and "God" is the power. In spellcraft, there are many methods, and many sources of power. The skillful magician is familiar with a wide variety of ways to gain power, an even wider variety of ways to use that power, and the ability to determine which of each is appropriate to achieve what sort of goals.

So hey, I just gave away the store in that last paragraph. Let's go over it again. A spell consists of (1) a goal to be achieved, (2) a method by which to achieve it, which should be appropriate to that goal, (3) one or more means of raising power, which should be appropriate to both the goal and the method.

Let's take a simple candle spell, a kind of Witchcraft 101 staple. Your girlfriend Susie emails you: "My cat is sick! Can you light a candle for her?" When you light that candle, what are you actually doing?

You have a goal, which is to heal Fluffy. You have a technique, which is to light a candle. Where is the power coming from?

In general, a candle spell uses concentration on a focal object (the flame). So, by examining this very simple spell, we've already teased out two magical techniques for raising power: Concentrating the mind, and using an object to focus on.

A candle spell might also use prayer, applying power loaned by the Gods, which we alluded to earlier.

You might also dress your candle, place it on a frequently-used altar set aside for this purpose, recite a rhyming couplet, use a photograph of Fluffy (Susie has plenty on her Facebook), put a little Beanie Baby kitty that looks just like Fluffy on your altar, and point your athame at the candle or the picture or the Beanie Baby. Each of these techniques brings different kinds of power to bear.

All of a sudden, that simple candle spell isn't so simple!

We haven't even discussed the color of the candle, the incense burned, what you're wearing, and how, exactly, you send the energy you've raised.

Obviously, a single article cannot teach you the art, science, and craft of magic. I have been teaching the subject for years, and still feel that I am learning about the subject. Indeed, all a short article can really do is point out how much there is to learn and, I hope, excite you about the prospect of learning.

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Deborah Lipp is the author of five books: The Study of Witchcraft, Elements of Ritual, The Way of Four, The Way of Four Spellbook and The Ultimate James Bond Fan Book. One of these things is not like the other. Deborah blogs about Pagan things at www.deborahlipp.com/wordpress and is also co-owner of Basket of Kisses (www.lippsisters.com), blogging about Mad Men, The Walking Dead, and other TV and movies.