The Witch's Imagination
My book Becoming the Witch; the Art of Magick takes you to the origins of witchcraft and explains why spells work. It also takes you to the power of the imagination.
I have cast so many spells over the years and I am always amazed by how something so simple can be so powerful.
A spell enchants, embraces you in a type of faery glamour and bestows a spiritual kiss that takes you out of the ordinary into the extraordinary. We all have a different idea of what the word “extraordinary” means. The OXFORD dictionary defines the word as ‘unusual or remarkable’. I believe a spell takes you into the unusual and the effect is remarkable
During a spell you make contact with the invisible world — the realm of energy. To get there you often begin with the physical, items and symbols you can see, touch, smell, hear and sometimes taste. This may change from spell to spell. Examples are the presence of the elements: candle; incense; water and salt, tools of magick, the wand; athame; chalice and pentacle. Symbols, the written word, sound and charms are also of the physical world. Like keys, these tangible items unlock another dimension where you weave divine energy around your intention — the purpose of the spell. This is where the invisible becomes very real to you, the witch.
A spell is the art of magick and art is born in the imagination, that extraordinary arena which moves and changes like a waking dream between the heart and the mind. Limitless, timeless and prone to ‘the unusual’. The imagination is the house of play, possibility and also a place of divine interaction. Without creative vision a spell remains in the physical world, a ceremony which doesn’t cross into wonder and awe.
To experience the remarkable you need to become remarkable, creator, oracle and witch. What you imagine during a spell, what you visualize in your mind’s eye, creates the ‘story of the spell’, an extraordinary story because it is here you may meet the Goddess, ancestors, your familiar and also your very own brilliance.
So when you cast your circle imbue it with vibrant energy. ‘See’ the symbol as flickering flames or flowing water around you. When you light the candle imagine the circle as well as your heart and mind illuminated. ‘See’ the sun in the flame, imagine your intention as words then visualize the words in the rising incense smoke or give your wish to a ‘bird’ to take to the sky gods. When you anoint your heart with water, imagine the moon rising above you and when you sprinkle salt on a charm feel ‘tree roots’ from your feet moving into the earth below.
A witch is an artist. The four elements, your beautiful tools and charms unlock the imagination — the portal to the extraordinary. Through this portal you become as one with your invisible sacred world and a change within you will take place.
With love, Dane Moon Thorp, The SpellBox Witch.
