First Official Blog - Advanced Witchcraft

30^th of September 2009 Waxing Moon in Aquarius

 

I had a creative impulse today to finally start my long-awaited regular (perhaps even fortnightly…or whenever it strikes me) blogging for those who have the time to observe and read such cyber-postings.

 

For my first ever official ‘blog’ I’d like to comment on the topic of ‘Advanced Witchcraft’. I have recently finished Edain McCoy’s Advanced Witchcraft: Go Deeper, Reach Further, Fly Higher (Llewellyn, 2004). When I first began reading the book I had my mental defences up. I have read and enjoyed several of McCoy’s books, primarily her Mountain Magick (Llewellyn, 1997), however, as with any popular and well-known author, the flaws and cons of such an individual are definitely considered before all else. Regarding Edain McCoy, it happens to be a few historical inaccuracies perpetuated in earlier books (Witta: An Irish Pagan Tradition, Llewellyn, 1993) which condemn the author in the present. McCoy herself makes it quite clear that upon looking back at her first published book the cringe-factor is definitely present. We are all human, and we are all prone to mistakes. To Edain McCoy, if you should ever read this blog, know that it was your book Advanced Witchcraft, which inspired me to understand more fully that humans are perfect imperfect beings.

 

Advanced Witchcraft as a book itself is well worth the read. The target audience is, of course, Witches who consciously live their spirituality in each moment and are thus beyond the 101; beyond relying on book-learning or route-learning through training covens. Advanced Witchcraft isn’t about being bigger or better than other Witches or magickally-inclined beings, it simply implies a focus on aspects of the Craft that allow for the deepening of the spirit. The book provides a springboard of ideas, techniques and philosophies for the ‘advanced’ Witch to spiral into new and challenging paradigms of perspective. The higher you climb the greater the view you have. Ultimately however, living one’s Craft is neither about ascending or descending, but simply being…in the here and the now.

 

At the culmination of the book McCoy asks the reader (again) what she would now define ‘Advanced Witchcraft’ as. I closed the book and gathered my thoughts and intuitions and this is what I arrived at:

 An advanced Witch is a conscious being; an individual who self-actualises his divine interconnection with all in existence and celebrates and honours the Life-Force in all he does and is. An advanced Witch is wise because he understands that one can never understand anything – only in becoming intimate with the Great Mystery can we ever hope to come to know the self, and self is in all things. In all things resides the power we know as Magick, therefore he understands and sees himself as magickal, divine and worthy. Beyond all else the advanced Witch is human, and dances and wrestles with his humanity…in the here, in the now. 

I urge those of you reading this blog to define for yourself what advanced Witchcraft means to you. If you are only beginning this wild path of ecstatic mystery then simply breathe in the wonder of Magick and ponder upon what the word ‘Witch’ means to you. When we reflect upon what our spiritual tradition/practice/religion/philosophy/way of being actually means to us, we are able to perceive and receive an aspect of our own essence and thus we come ever closer to that infinite journey to know thyself.

 

Wild Blessings – Gede Parma~

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 8:21 pm and is filed under Blog, Witchcraft/The Craft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.