Author: A Solitary Pagan

One of the witches’ most important basic beliefs, obviously, is the reality and possibility of magic. This involves the idea that the physical world is only part of reality, the part that we are able to apprehend with our five senses. Beyond are vaster realms; and in these the witch seeks to venture. This, again, involves a further belief, namely that human beings have more senses than the usual r...

In African tribal traditions, witchcraft is part of the accepted supernatural landscape and is generally something to be feared. Study of African tribal religions illustrates the African ancestry of modern Vodun, Santería and Candomblé. There is a fairly universal belief in a supreme God, who manifests himself in light and brightness: a shining, snowcapped mountain, or the light streaming through ...

The ability of witches, sorcerers  and other magically empowered persons to transform themselves and other humans at will into animals, birds and insects. In witchcraft trials, people testified that the accused witches had appeared before them or tormented them in some nonhuman shape. For example, in 1663 Jane Milburne of Newcastle, England, did not invite Dorothy Strangers to her wedding supper. ...

Witchcraft probably originated about 25,000 years ago in the Palaeolithic era. At that time, humankind and nature were seen as inextricably linked. People acknowledged every rock, tree and stream as deities in the life force, and the Earth as mother, offering both womb and tomb. Early man used sympathetic, or attracting, magick – in the form of dances, chants and cave paintings of animals – to att...

I respect the solitary witches who blaze your own trails, walk your own paths, and listen to your own gods. It can be a lonely, yet rewarding, life. It is not for the faint of heart. From the solitary we can all learn self-reliance and how to listen to our intuition. I respect the witch who chooses a traditional coven. Whether it is Gardnerian, Alexandrian, reconstructionist, or another group, it ...

A lot of traditional witches do not cast a circle at all as this is not traditional witchcraft but some do cast a compass which is not a circle. It is very different. Rituals in Traditional Craft are very different from those that are Wicca and ceremonial based in that they are not scripted, they are spontaneous and spoken from the heart. There is no circle casting and calling the elements as such...

According to a prophecy by the famous 19th-century cunning man James Murrell, the Essex village of Canewdon, located in England’s “witch country” of East Anglia, would be populated with witches “forever.” Indeed, the village and the surrounding area have been steeped in witch lore since at least 1580, when a woman named Rose Pye was accused of witchcraft, tried, and acquitted. Legend has it that e...

Esbat is a regular meeting of a coven of Witches at which religious worship is conducted, business is discussed and magic and healing work is done. The frequency of esbats depends on the coven. Most covens meet at the full Moon, which occurs 13 times a year. They may also meet at the new moon. Some meet weekly. The esbat may take place indoors or outdoors. A coven may have a regular meeting place ...

A curse is a spell intended to bring misfortune, illness, harm or death to a victim. Curses are the most dreaded form of magic, as curses are universal. They are “laid” or “thrown” primarily for revenge and power but also for protection, usually of homes, treasures, tombs and grave sites. A curse can take effect quickly or may be dormant for years. Curses have been laid upon families, plaguing the...

There is a special connection between the spirit and its possessing location, most often the victim’s bedroom or personal place. Anything that can be moved is taken out, such as rugs, lamps, dressers, curtains, tables and trunks, to minimize flying objects. Only a bed or couch remains, accompanied by a small side table to hold a crucifix, candle, holy water and prayer book. Doors and windows are c...

In contemporary Witchcraft, a powerful, magical rite of sexual intercourse that pays homage to the male/female polarity that exists in all things in the universe. The Great Rite expresses the physical, mental, spiritual, and astral union between man and woman and the union of the Goddess and God. The Great Rite is the hieros gamos, the Sacred Marriage or Holy Matrimony, which is union with a deity...

This name was given to the statue of a mysterious deity alleged to be worshipped by the Knights Templars. The latter, although a powerful and wealthy order of chivalry, came to be distrusted by Church and State at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and were disbanded. They were accused of heresy, of worshipping the Devil in the guise of Baphomet, and of practising homosexuality. The order wa...