Wicca for One

There can be no doubt that television, the movies, and the Internet have all contributed to the everyday person’s awareness of Witchcraft as a viable, modern, religious path. This is thanks to the depictions of Witchcraft over the past five or ten years. It used to be that anything shown on the screen—small or large—that touched on the subject, presented it in the now-outdated form of devil worship and black magic. But thanks to the early Wiccan pioneers, and to a Hollywood finally willing to show a little of the authentic side of Witchcraft, we now have movies with characters talking (more or less) knowledgeably about “the Craft.”

It seems not so many years ago that I would deliver a lecture on Witchcraft and be greeted with such questions as “Do Witches really fly on broomsticks?” Those days are more or less gone, with today’s questions much more likely to be dealing with the relationship between the worshipper and the Old Gods, and with the finer points of Sabbat presentation.

Books have also played their part in this change, of course. In fact it was books that initiated the change. The first book on Witchcraft that was actually written by a Witch did not appear until as recently as 1954 (Witchcraft Today, by Gerald B. Gardner), published in England. The first book written by an American practicing Witch appeared in 1970 (Witchcraft From the Inside, by Raymond Buckland). Since those days there has been a rapidly increasing library on the subject, covering every possible aspect of the Craft. In the belief that there can never be too much information made available, I add this present volume to the score.

One major confusion that seems to remain for the non-practitioner, is between religion and magic. Magic is a part of many religions, including the major ones. Roman Catholicism’s transubstantiation, for example, is pure magic; albeit that magic is just a small part of the whole Catholic religion. Magic is also used by Witches. But as with Roman Catholicism, Witchcraft is first and foremost a religion and any magic done by Witches is but a small part of the whole.

Magic in itself is a practice; anyone may do magic or at least attempt it. You don’t have to be a Witch, Jew, Buddhist, Catholic, or anything in particular to do magic. In fact, even atheists practice magic. If, then, your sole interest is in working spells and doing magic, you don’t need to become a Witch. I recently read someone’s statement that the difference between a Wiccan and a Witch was that a Wiccan practiced the Old Religion and a Witch just did magic. Nonsense! Anyone who “just does magic” is simply a magician. “Witch” and “Wiccan” is basically the same thing, but I will talk more about that later. Anyone can be a magician but, in my view, it takes someone special to be a Witch.

Wicca/Witchcraft is also known as the “Old Religion,” since it predates Christianity (the New Religion). It’s also sometimes referred to as “the Craft”; a shortened form of “Witchcraft.” The oldest type of Witchcraft is that practiced by Solitary Witches. Covens—groups of Witches working together—did not begin to appear until the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Admittedly, since that time the idea of Witches always working in covens has taken hold to the point where, even today, many practicing Witches themselves believe that the only “authentic” Witch is one who is part of a coven. But this is incorrect. There have always been Solitary Witches and, I’m sure, there always will be. In England they are sometimes referred to as “Hedge” Witches, because many of them specialized in herbal law, gathering wild herbs from the hedgerows. The word “solitaire” can be applied to a person who lives alone, though mostly as a recluse. This term has been adopted by some as an alternate to “Solitary,” for the Witch alone.

In the first part of this book, I’ll give you some idea of the background to Solitary Witchcraft and some of the famous Witches who were never associated with covens. I’ll go on to show how the whole idea of covens was leapt upon by Dr. Margaret Murray, in the early part of the twentieth century, and took hold from there. I’ll then tell of the birth of Wicca, or neo-Witchcraft, with Gerald Gardner’s presentation of the working of a modern Witch cult, and examine the various beliefs of Wicca. I’ll also look further at the difference between Witchcraft and magic. In the second part of the book, I give the particulars of becoming a Solitary Witch, what is involved and how to study and eventually practice. I’ll look at the tools used, the varieties of practice, rituals and celebrations, and the ethics and responsibilities of Witchcraft. Wicca is not a part-time hobby; it is a daily regimen. It is something that you live. It is a belief system and a life path that, if followed diligently, brings tremendous rewards. This is not a book of instant spells to make you greatly desired and incredibly popular (and especially not to make you feared). It is a gateway to a way of life that places you among those special ones . . . the Solitary Witches.