Today, Witchcraft is often discussed as The Craft, which is true. The biggest aspect is magic and spells, as popular culture has been emphasized. Yet, the greater part of Witchcraft, is in the Crafting itself. This represents the many skills that are used to create our magic.  This is a wide range and what we find begins our specializations. Let us explore.

The most common and historical is Herb Craft. The art of using plants for many reasons, including food, medicine, and psychic exploration. This is the magic we first explored, long before we even truly understood language. We as early sentients’ began to identify foods that were safe to eat.  Many mammals at every level have shown the same skill. So the ability to identify the plants has been deep within our minds, becoming steadily part of us.  It has been theorized that even psychedelic mushrooms was the avenue we used to help expand our minds and found our path into the spirit realm. Herb Craft is the one skill that can spend their entire life on, and still have more to learn.

Light creation is a one of the least considered of the skills in our modern age. Yet, when our ancestors built fire from capturing it and keeping it alive, as one would a living being. Then slowly we learned to create it from sparks hidden in stones and sticks. Finally we found fuel from oils, fats, and even wax. We are seekers of light, for we see it as a way to combat the dark, to gain control of our ability to live around the clock. It is why we use fire as a way to access magic and even the gods themselves. Light is our creative way to begin shifting our consciousness,

Stone and Crystal Lore is next, and we have always found ways to use them. Some are useful, some are beautiful. Ultimately we learned to use them to create fire in the form of flint, we made tools from the sharpest and the heaviest, and made jewelry from the most eye catching. Each step of our growing civilization was based on gaining knowledge of the world of stone and crystal. Even that metal fell from the sky, which we used to make swords. Further we added ores, to create metals, including gold and silver, which we adorned ourselves to be akin to gods. Everything humanity has built has been based on this knowledge that rocks, stones and crystal contain magic that can be transformed to useful service. So this is our magic at its core. The ability to create.

Dreamcrafting is another craft which we pursue since the most ancient time. We learn to remember the dreams we had, sharing them, and discussing them. It is still seen in indigenous people who speak of dreamtime, where they continue to have reverence. At the very least dreams are imagination and our thoughts, they can be where intuition can play out. Our dreams are your interface, with spirit, the astral, and the deep mind.  So learning dreams and interpreting them is yet another form of craft.

Art is the ultimate craft, as it is the craft of generating images, symbols, and expressions of the imagination. This is everything from cave dwelling pictures, to the greatest of art galleries. It is sculptures of the Goddess and the statues of the Gods.  Our ability to generate artistic expressions is fundamental to our magic. From talismans to amulets, to jewelry to empower us, and tokens we carry all represent a way to hold our imagination and thought into physical form.  The ability to create Tarot cards and carve Runes are yet a way to activate our deep intuition through Art. So when we say Witchcraft is a Art and a Craft, we means all art and all crafts are the Witches domain.

For me, this does not end just in the physical, but moves into cyberspace where we create our imagination in pixels, in images, and in performances. So we are not yet complete or done, for we have the ability to grow our art, our craft, and thus unlimited in our potential. So when designing your magic, discover the craft its built in is as important as the spell itself.

Today’s assignment, for your Book of Shadows, create something from your craft into art. Share it with your book. Be thoughtful and have fun.

Blessed Be
Ed the Pagan