Magic

Witches work magic. It is the part of our religion that outsiders find hardest to take seriously and the part most often misdescribed, so it is worth saying plainly what we mean by it.

A well-known definition of magic, attributed to the occultist Dion Fortune, calls it the art of changing consciousness at will. Witches generally mean something that begins there and goes further: that when consciousness is changed in the right way, by people who know what they are about, things in the world change with it.

What witches mean by magic

In a Gardnerian coven magic is a group activity with a definite method. The coven agrees on a purpose. In the cast circle it raises power, by one or more of the traditional means. That power is held, built to a pitch, and released towards the purpose in a single moment. The working is then put out of mind, and those concerned get on with whatever ordinary action the matter requires.

Gerald Gardner described the power as something that comes from the bodies of the witches themselves, and the circle as the vessel that holds it until it is sent. The image the Craft uses is the cone of power: a cone of force, its base the circle and its point above the centre, built up by the coven and loosed at the High Priestess's word.

The ways of raising power

The tradition counts eight ways of making magic, and they have long been in print. They include concentration and the holding of a clear image, chanting and the spoken spell, rhythmic dance in a ring, trance, the use of incense and wine to shift the mind, and the binding of the cords. In practice a coven combines several: a circle dance with a chant, growing faster, is the commonest of all.

Some of the older methods are used rarely or not at all today. And one point should be made plainly. We do not use drugs, and we would advise anyone to keep well clear of a group that does.

Whatever the method, the essentials are the same, and any witch could list them.

1. A clear intent. The purpose must be exact and agreed by all. Vague magic gets vague results.
2. Raised power. By whatever means, the coven must be brought to a state of heightened and unified energy.
3. Direction. The power is aimed, usually by a shared image of the thing accomplished.
4. Release. It is let go completely, and not fretted over afterwards.
5. Action in accord. A spell for work is followed by job applications. Magic opens a door. Somebody still has to walk through it.

What magic is used for

Overwhelmingly, for healing. A member is ill, or a member's mother is going into hospital, or a friend of the coven has asked for help, and the coven works to send strength and ease. After healing come the ordinary needs of ordinary lives: a job for someone out of work, a house for a family that needs one, calm for someone facing a court or an examination, protection for someone who is afraid.

It is also used for the land. Many covens work at intervals for the well-being of their own district: for a river, a wood, a good harvest, the hill above the house.

It is not, as a rule, used for anything grand. Gardner's account of the New Forest witches working against invasion in 1940 is remembered precisely because it was exceptional.

The limits

The ethics of magic follow from the Wiccan Rede, and the Craft has drawn some firm conclusions.

• No harm. Magic is not worked to injure anyone.
• No coercion. Magic is not worked to compel another person's will. The classic case is the love spell aimed at a named individual, which every reputable witch refuses. It is a violation of the other person, and by all accounts it ends badly.
• Consent. Magic is not worked on anyone's behalf without their agreement, healing included. People have a right to decide what is done for them.
• No payment. Magic is not sold. A witch who charges for spells has stepped outside the Craft.
• No display. Magic is not done to impress, to win an argument or to prove that it works.

Divination

Beside magic stands divination: the reading of the tarot, the scrying glass or bowl, the casting of lots. It is the receptive half of the same art, an attempt to see how things lie before acting on them. Most witches practise at least one method. Its chief use within a coven is in deciding whether a proposed working is wise at all, and it is quite common for the cards to say no.

Does it work?

We can only answer for ourselves. In more than forty years of this coven's working, we have seen things turn out as we worked for them to turn out, more often and more exactly than we think chance would allow. We have also seen workings fail, and we cannot always say why.

We are aware of how this sounds, and of the ordinary explanations. People who work a spell for a job go into the interview with more confidence. A person who knows that eleven friends stood in a circle for them last night feels less alone, and people who feel less alone recover better. We do not think these explanations are the whole of it. But even if they were, the practice would be worth keeping, since confidence and the knowledge of being cared for are not small things to be able to give.

What we would say to a sceptic is this: try it, honestly and for a fair length of time, and judge by the results. And what we would say to an enthusiast is that magic is the smaller part of the Craft. A coven is a religious body before it is a magical one. A witch who never worked another spell and kept every esbat and Sabbat would still be a witch. One who did the reverse would not.