Manifestation Mysterium

wish-craft or witchcraft?

I didn’t identify as a witch when beginning my journey into the power of attraction. I thought of myself more as a spiritual seeker, delving into all the possibilities in the universe. I believed then, as I do now, that there was something to the idea that we can energetically align ourselves to receive what we ask for.

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I sought out witchcraft, specifically, at a time in my life when everything was going wrong, when I felt completely powerless over present situations and future outcomes. I just wanted to make all my troubles disappear—poof! This is the crossroad where so many of us choose the sovereign path of the witch.

I found a 3rd-Degree High Priestess of Wicca to mentor me. I thought she would unlock the mysteries of real magick. I remember being a little disappointed when the more I learned, the more it became crystal clear there were no mystical secrets, no magical words, no arcane spells that would be revealed to me. At least not in the way I’d envisioned—where the knowledge or the tool would be imparted and instantly I would be able to change physical matter, levitate objects (or myself), light a candle with mere thought, or be able to turn my enemies into toads.

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Today, my definition of witch and witchcraft has changed, and it may be different than yours if you’ve been drawn in by the social media witch influencer.

Being a witch is now a trend. I’ve never much liked trends. I’m not spending my time making reels, posting magical images, or stocking an Etsy inventory. Maybe I like to satisfy the art witch in me by creating a meme here and there. When I brew up herbal tinctures, infuse oil, or cook up a salve for myself, there’s always extra to share or sell. But I certainly don’t fit the picture of influencer.

My practice has been about asking what witches of olde would have done. Of late, I can’t stop hearing an inner voice telling me “we weren’t witches.”

Witch was not a name any healer, midwife, herbalist, soothsayer or other woman with gifts ever chose. It was an accusation, leveled by men of fear and greed.

The accused were midwifes bringing new life into this world. They were healers, at the besides of the sick. They stood witness to life passing into and from this world. They were herbalists, wise women, soothsayers, and mystics. It wasn’t witches that were persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and murdered. They were just women, and I believe the common thread woven through all of what they did, all of what we now call witchcraft was and is desire—the desire to help, to heal, to create something better than what we have.

Desire + Intention + Action + Commitment = Manifestation

But desire alone is not what makes the witch; everybody knows desire. Witches manifest.

A Story of Wish-craft

Many years ago, I ended a 23 year marriage and walked away from just about everything I owned, starting over from scratch. Not long after, wondering if I could ever put the pieces of my life back together, I read a book called The Circle: How The Power of a Single Wish Can Change Your Life, by Laura Day. Much of the book’s contents fades from my memory, other than the author’s urging to write a description of the perfect life of my dreams.

I imagined a small cottage near the ocean, where I would spend my days tucked up in a cozy room under the eves, weaving the stories in my head into published works. I’d walk to the market every day, stopping to chat with neighbors. I’d watch the sun rise and set from a chair on my porch, the wooden planks worn smooth by the constant salt spray. I wrote in great detail, naming the location (far from where I was at the time), the style of the house, all the furnishings, the shops in the nearby village, the colors of the sunrise and sunset, and everything that happened each day between those hours.

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That wish list for my future was a promise to myself that I could still have everything I dreamed of, that I wasn’t a failure and it wasn’t too late.

Life carried on as it does. I remarried, I went to work and came home every day. Routine days passed along with milestones and I took it all in stride. At some point, I ran across that earlier written dream, tucked into an envelope, slipped into one of my journals, forgotten over time.

As I read the description and looked over lists of the many things I wanted then, I was astounded to see how much of it had come to pass. Did I make it happen? Of course I did; I made the choices and took the steps. But I was also open to receiving some things that didn’t look exactly like I’d pictured.

I’m still living in the same one-story house I thought was just a temporary residence—so no cozy studio tucked under the eves and no ocean breezes. Instead, my creative space is a tiny cottage shed twenty steps from my back door. A half mile walk takes me to a few village shops and the little library, all at the edge of 40 wooded acres where a spring fed stream flows into a crystal clear lake. I watch the sun rise and set over the tops of trees and in the hours between, I write, paint and garden. The picture might be a little different, but the feelings are the same.

Personal Power

Success doesn’t always come so easily, and maybe not exactly as we envisioned. Life throws us hardballs pitched by circumstances beyond our control, like illness, accidents, natural disasters, tragedies that can bring us to our knees begging for mercy. And far too many people are blocked by institutionalized disadvantage, discrimination, and oppression. At times, we all struggle with learned behaviors and past trauma.

So what’s the secret to successful manifestation? In my experience, it takes three qualities: purpose, resilience and, most importantly, belief in your own power to attain what you desire.

I Think I Can

The power of our thoughts is limitless—but can also be limiting. Take the humble bumble bee. Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know that, so it goes on flying anyway.

Or so the common belief goes. This misconception about aerodynamics and bumblebees, with wings too small to keep their chubby bodies aloft, has been used by motivational speakers over and over again to inspire determination. It turns out to be false. Bumblebees move their wings in a different pattern than most flying insects. Their ability to fly is not only possible, but the mechanics are scientifically sound.

Suppose, though, that the bumble bee was able to hear and understand all the repeated declarations claiming its flight was impossible, and never even tried to get off the ground? The only single thing keeping it from flight would be its own self limiting thoughts.

In witchcraft, thought-forms are energetic beings created by a witch to perform a desired task. For example, creating a force field for protection, or a fierce being to guard your home. Further, there is constant debate over whether curses are real, or only effective if the person cursed believes it’s real.

Aside from witchcraft or magical thinking, there is a hypothesis that everything of our world exists only in our thoughts. Our existence and experiences are but a figment of our own imagining; we ourselves are pure thought, creating the world we wish to inhabit. That might be taking it a bit too far, but it opens a door for me to wondering how much of what I believe to be true and irrefutable is only a result of the thoughts I form around it?

Of course, we’ve all heard you are what you think and fake it ‘til you make it. And we can’t forget the placebo affect, nor the cases of surviving fatal disease or injury with no medical explanation. A miracle, yes, but are miracles necessarily divine intervention from some unseeable and powerful god of our naming (God, Sprit, Creator, Allah, etc.)? If so, the arbitrary determination of who deserves miracles and who is passed over becomes very troublesome for me.

All of this points to the power of our minds to do things that are at least improbable, and sometime taken for impossible.

Saying the power of desire plus intention is limitless (provided we can find the key to unlock it), is one thing. Saying we can wish all our troubles away if we just think positive is another. One is a willingness to explore the possibilities and put in the effort (practice, practice, practice) and the other is toxic positivity.

For now, I’m willing to explore the possibilities. I’m willing to believe that my thoughts have power beyond my current understanding and to put forth the required work in action. I’ll never know if I don’t try, and really, what can it hurt?

An Invitation

I’ve opened a private group on Facebook to explore the theories and possibilities of manifestation. Participation is by my invitation only (for now), extended to those who have taken or enroll in courses with me (in person or online). I’m also inviting my paid subscribers to join.

If you aren’t already a paid subscriber, the monthly rate starts at $6.

Until next time ~

Blessed Be and Journey Well