For Witches and Wiccans alike, it's hard sometimes to practice your craft and your religion when you don't have a spell you need to cast or a sabbat or esbat to celebrate. But religion is a way of life, and is called a "practice" for a good reason: you must practice it. Seems simple, right? It's common sense that the spell of a witch who has practiced for years will work better than that of a novice who is only just starting.
But unlike a musical instrument or a sport, there are not many obvious exercises a Witch or Wiccan can perform...or so you
thought. Here are some simple techniques for keeping your practice and your religion in top physical form.
Meditation-An oldie, but a goodie. Meditation as described in a yogic context is defined as a state of pure consciousness, untroubled by the many thoughts and tasks your mind performs all at the same time. Essentially, it is the slowing down and ultimate complete stop of thought. It is important because once your thought is stopped you may concentrate on one thing with all of your being. Of course it gets you more in tune with your own magickal energy, and of course you become more in tune with the world around you as well as the world within you. But meditation also has the physical benefits of decreased stress and increased awareness. Ever heard of one moment you will never forget? The one where you will remember everything? Now you may end up with even more of those moments.
One simple meditation technique: sit or lie down in a quiet and relaxed position. Become aware of your breathing. Now become aware of the sounds around you without becoming emotionally attached to any of them. Notice them as you might notice people passing in and out of a train station; notice one and move on to the next. Your mental list of sounds may go something like this:
"Breath. Voices. Air conditioner. Music. Voices. Breath. Car. Horn. Footsteps." If you "run out of sounds" (the more you do this, the less it will happen), start back at the top again. Slowly your awareness will shrink only to what you are hearing, and for a moment you may become aware of exactly how relaxed every bit of your body feels. You will be aware of voices, but not what they are saying. This is called "Mindfulness Meditation."
Visualization-Often confused with meditation its self, visualization is technically a meditation technique. So much of magick consists of visualizing your intent, pouring energy into tools, visualizing the energy going out, etc. But it's a lot harder than it sounds to keep your mind on one image. Practice first with something simple. Imagine a blank white wall. Now project different colors onto it. True you won't actually "see" with your optical nerves, but you will see it in your mind's eye. Now move on to more complicated images. Now start to experience these images with all of your senses. Imagine, say, an apple. How it tastes, how it smells, how it feels, how it looks, and how it sounds. Ok, maybe apples don't make noise, but still.
Ritual- Whether you are casting a spell or celebrating a holiday, ritual is the basis of all Wicca, and for most Wiccan Witches, all spellcraft. This is where you commune with the Lord and Lady, with the quarters; in effect, with the universe. But many a witch has ruined a ritual by faltering through circle casting steps she has not practiced since the last sabbat a month earlier. So to my mind, one should hold a ritual just for the sake of communion at least twice a week.
Divination- Y'know, when people ask me why divination works, I like to go for this rather long quote from Douglas Adams from
Mostly Harmless, the last book in the
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Series, when an astrologer is explaining how astrology works to an alternate-reality version of Tricia MacMillan: "The rules just kind of got there. They don't make any sense except in terms of themselves. But when you start to exercise those rules, all sorts of processes start to happen and you start to find out all sorts of stuff about people...It's like throwing a handful of fine graphite dust on a piece of paper to see where the hidden indentations are. It lets you see the words that were written on the piece of paper above it that's now been taken away and hidden. The graphite's not important. It's just a means of revealing their indentations." Basically, what it's saying is that astrology, as well as any other form of divination, works
because the rules are arbitrary.
That being said, divination is a wonderful way to keep the Craft in your life. It helps you see things in a completely different light, how things may turn out, and what you can do to change their occurence. It gives you a read on yourself, bringing things in your subconscious up to the surface.
Daily Devotion- What I refer to as "ritual lite." These are little things you do every day tied to daily occurences that help remind you of the presence of the Lord and Lady in the world around you. Many wiccans say a devotion every morning, every night and before meals. Then there are the random devotions that occur to us throughout the day, perhaps if it suddenly starts raining, or you just notice what a beautiful day it is. Yes, yes, I know, I'm sounding completely overly cheerful flower-child. But devotions are really great.
Energy Experience-Everything contains energy. The trees outside. The grass. Hell, the sidewalk attracts a lot of energy beaten into it by the passers-by. Just for fun, while you're walking to school or through the park or something, feel the energy inside of plants, stones, or other things around you: what color is it? Is it warm or cold? Does it have a texture?
Cleansing-Ok, I think we all went a little magick-crazy the first time we discovered it. Didn't you ever cleanse or consecrate the pencil you found at the bottom of your backpack? Seriously though, find objects that are important to your work or your life and cleanse them. Charge them with your own personal energy. I cleansed my laptop and now it actually runs faster. You needn't hold full ritual consecrations, just take a moment, feel your own cleansing energy run through it and push out the negativity. Make it yours.
Magick Shopping- Consume! It's the American Way! No, seriously folks, you find some awesome stuff if you go into a New Age store every now and then. For instance, I had a used Tarot deck I was having trouble cleansing, and I went into a store and saw exactly what would do the trick: quartz. Quartz is the easiest crystal to dedicate to any purpose, and once I charged it with cleansing and put it near the deck, it cleared right up. Magickal shops just tend to have a lot of magick energy pulsing around in there from the various products they carry, and it's very refreshing.
Tend an Herb Garden-Even if it's only one plant, herbs you grew yourself when used in ritual are automatically charged with your personal energy and more likely to be charged with the intent of a particular ritual. Tending plants is also very peaceful, and nourishes your own maternal instinct to nurture and take care of things. It's also a great way to keep in touch with the natural world. Just don't neglect your plants--it's not they're fault that you may not have enough time for them.
Journaling-Some use their BoS, but I prefer to keep a seperate journal, a blog actually. When you are in touch with yourself and your needs, you can accomadate them accordingly. You know what you need to do for yourself before you can do something else. It also really helps to vent once in a while.
There are many other techniques you can use: poetry writing, exercise, chakra and energy work, crystal work, etc. These are just a few to get you started. Blessed be!
