Wicca for One

Although the main aspect of Wicca is the religious ritual, magic plays a part—and for some it is a big part. Yet magic is a fickle thing—it doesn’t always work! Why is that? When your magic doesn’t work you first need to look at all the obvious possibilities for failure; for example, the actual mechanics of the magic. With candle burning, did you have the right candles? Were they properly consecrated? Did you work with the phases of the moon and, if so, did you do so correctly? With poppets, were you able to incorporate witnesses—actual items from the person represented by the poppet? Did you incorporate color into the construction of the figure(s)? In regular, basic magic—building and releasing power—did you have a clear picture of the end result desired? Everything needs to be considered and, of course, all of this should have been considered before the magic was ever started. But even with everything covered, sometimes a spell just doesn’t work. This is why it must always be emphasized: there are no guarantees with magic.

It must be acknowledged that the gods know better than we do. However much we may want something to happen, it may be that “in the great scheme of things” it just isn’t meant to happen. It may be something as simple as that the timing isn’t right, which is why I suggest repeating a magical ritual—doing it three times over a three-month period before giving up. In the time spent between lives, we review what we learned and experienced in our last lifetime and we also plan what we need to learn and experience in the next one. What you are now trying to bring about by magic may not fit into that plan. There is obviously a certain amount of latitude in such a planned life, but there will be limits and coming up against a magic-related brick wall may well be one of those limits. So, if your magic doesn’t work, examine it, see if there might be some other quite different approach you might try and, if that doesn’t work, accept defeat.

All of which brings us back to the fact that Wicca/Witchcraft is essentially a religion and that magic is secondary to that. It is the “Old Religion;” a form of paganism. As such it is a religion of which you should be proud. I have been a part of it for well over forty years (with more than a decade before that just reading and studying) and have spent many years working on the public relations side of Wicca—righting the popular misconceptions and spreading the word. The scene today is certainly vastly different from what it was back in the 1960s. Hopefully that scene will continue to improve as Wicca becomes more accepted by other religions and individuals. But the fact remains that there are still certain people and groups who may never accept us, just as they won’t accept any group other than their own. Rather than confront such fanatics, it is usually best to avoid them. My father had an expression: You cannot argue with an idiot! Unfortunately, that applies to many Fundamentalists.

Speaking of not being accepted, I must return to the point that Solitary Witches are frequently not “accepted,” or recognized, by Coven Witches. To my mind, this is sad and simply a reflection on the lack of knowledge of those Coven Witches. However, the bottom line is that it really doesn’t matter in the least whether you are “accepted” by them and whether they view you as “authentic.” All that matters is that you know who you are and you are happy in the practice of your religion. If someone else has a problem with it, let them get on with it. (By the same token, a Solitary could say that he or she does not “accept” the idea of covens! But there again, it wouldn’t matter and shouldn’t interfere with either.) The many petty jealousies and rivalries that crop up in today’s world of Wicca do nothing but drag down the Old Religion. It’s sad, but I have to accept it as part of human nature. There may never be an end to it, but let’s do all in our power to rise to the highest standards.