Need an Idea on what I practice is To have a Clue.

[EveningWithAstaroth]

Alright. I need a general term or idea on what to call what I practice, so I have a clue on something I can stick with for a while before my flighty mind, goes haywire, and I am researching every single form of craft out there, and finally deciding that none of it applies, and everything is futile....

Alright perhaps a touch over dramatic there.

I am really struggling here with figuring out what it is I do, or if what I do is already a form of witchcraft already out there somewhere.

I want to say also before I explain a bit of what I do and what I am struggling with right now, that I honestly don't want the- "Don't label yourself" speech or the "Why are people so focused on labels" retort, alright? First this response goes out to every single person whom wishes to ask which path they are following, regardless of knowing why they are following what they do, and it utterly disregards why they are asking.

Do you think people ask hey does what I do resemble any form of witchcraft?- Because they are literally looking to follow a tradition already underway which already has a label, or that they have interest only in what to call themselves because it has a shiny label?

In honesty I feel this people look only for a place of belonging.

That said on to my giant dilemma.

I need an idea of my next craft area to study. To get an answer on this it may be easier to give background on what I do already.

I love rocks and stones, much like a green witch. I love also working with plants and for the past two years I have had a garden like a green witch. At the age of 14 I experienced a Shamanic initiation, like a native practitioner would. I love to clean like a cottage witch. I would love to cook, but happen to live with others whom are messy especially in the kitchen therefore do not make meals often or essential oils or any of the stuff I'd like to do in a kitchen like a kitchen witch would.

Now. My father purchased a boat and I do a lot of boating and sailing or try to, when I can with my family. I've never heard of sea witchery or witchcraft until I came here, and was reading through this site. Thing is? Before I read of sea witchery here, I was making my holy blessing water like a sea witch would and didn't even realize it. I also being a coastal person who does not live on the beach, I've always loved going to the beach, and collecting shells, learning about the sea life etc.

In grade school my favorite teacher was one who taught us earth science. We would constantly go outside and learn about different plants and insects etc.

When younger 14, my mother had an herb book that was very large about 500 pages worth that I studied and read front to cover. I've read other books on plants, their lore and identification as well.

I celebrate to the best of my ability the 8 sabbats although I do not personally call myself wiccan. I am monotheistic, and do not worship the Goddess much, I also have no interest in moon magic, and I worship a single God.

I have to designated candle holders with candles for God and Goddess candles on my altar currently to represent Deity, but I call them God candles.

As well I have a mardi gra like type mask on the wall above my altar table top to represent God. Or the God aspect.

I am simply thinking about what type of Wicca and Witchcraft to look into next that may make some sense to me.

I felt Cottage witchcraft resembled my path a bit until I googled it and realized I can not find a whole lot of very informative information on it.

Many may wish to recommend books, but do not realize, I do not have a lot of cash for book purchases right now. I could ask my father to get me one on amazon maybe but the chances he will do what I ask- it is difficult to get the man to do anything- are very poor.

Any suggestions on a type of witchcraft to look into next? Or what could be an area of interest for me with all I've said here?

Of course there is so much more to how I practice my craft than I could possibly explain here.

I am looking though for something decorating/ home focused- as I do like to decorate a lot.

I thought Cottage Witchcraft was it, but when I looked it up all the websites kept constantly mentioning the kitchen- I thought kitchen witchcraft is designated for the kitchen?- and nothing of cleaning and decorating?

Any help here?

Thank you.

[SpiritTalker]

Cottage, sea, kitchen, green witch styles are "flavors" & simply relate to the environment a witch has to work with when crafting. A hedge witch also engages spirit travel. A witch who lives in a cottage whether in the woods or on the seashore still has a kitchen and a garden & might "travel" just as a city witch might do, so there's cross-over between styles. These terms are the form of practice &'is not what is meant by a "path." A witch is going to practice in whatever environment s/he lives. The witch might not notice the effect the moon has on growing plants & on her own physical energy or feel the push of the Earth's magnetic force slither under her feet, but she will use whatever is available to her from her immediate surroundings for her personal crafting whether those supplies are purchased, found in nature or repurposed household items. Most witches just follow their natural inclinations & intuition. These various styles are all lumped together in folk magic. Eclectic picks here & there & can still be regional. The Path that calls us is the one that offers what we wish to learn, not what we already know.

IMO cleaning and decorating with a witchy flair is creating balanced energy-in-motion. Many witches spend hours arranging altar tables "just-so" by placing every item to express intuitive, natural inclinations. The altar in effect becomes an image of the witch. Just look at how much time & effort the humblest witch puts into their altar! A witch would also be most comfortable being where cleaning has removed stagnant energies. Natural witchery is born in us & uses our senses and the connections we make in our imagination to be expressed. This is the root of witch crafting. Call it gut-feeling; it is not a specific style of practice or a path you'll find described in any book but you can observe it in action if you look at altar photos where the Crafter creates vignette-like arrangements. It shows the essence of who the witch is & energy connections they make. Some people have more awareness of it than others but without the gut feeling a person could cast spells by the book until they turn blue but will not connect to what is really going on or feel the flow of natural energies. The altar isn't used for connecting to deity in such examples but for expressing the magical persona.

I think of it as Witchy Therapy releasing the psychic pressures that we witches are bombarded with. The more elaborate an altar looks the more it is off-setting the Grim Shadow. We use the altar to show us hidden things about ourselves and most witches do this. We go around changing our altars when our moods shift, but we can also use the altar to cause a desired change in our mood. (OwlVine Green's YouTube videos on her altar change-outs really illustrate this well.)

A path is related to a culture at its peak era of history like Etruscan, Norse, Celtic, Eqyptian, Greek & Sumerian. The god forms are relevant to the culture & era. Each culture had it's own name for a sun & moon god but they all had a sun & moon god because every civilization above ground could see the sun & moon. Some witches use family heritage as a definition of their path. Modern reconstructed paths are usually named for their civilization (as above) or founders like Gardnerian Wicca. Even that varies. So just following a titled path isn't a guarantee of feeling we belong.

I'd suggest either looking into what is called "traditional" witchcraft which draws on the shamanic roots of all magical practices (which i think you've mentioned is your style), or your family heritage &'the culture your ancestors came from to see what practices you can find. We all came from somewhere. Just becoming aware of what all witchcraft has in common as it's natural foundation can help connect us to the whole wide practice.

Re: pagan monotheism ... As solitaire witches we can each believe in our unique god forms as we make personal connections. So that topic wont be found in any specific Path book either but in books & websites on Paganism as it's own topic. Magical crafting as an art is available to people of any faith & is different from Witchcraft as a religion with it's primordial God/dess. I am monotheistic too but I can grasp the concept of duality & see how it relates to balancing magical energies for spell crafting.

Sarah Anne Lawless has a darned good trad-witch website. 2 YouTube sites by fellows who really do their research are MrShadowBwoy & Kelden. And Noah Tempestarii who is eclectic has a YouTube channel with very simple spell examples useful just for comparison. Peter Paddon podcasts on youtube are trad teaching videos.

[SnowCat]

I like Spirit's description of natural witchery. I have found my path to be eclectic and fluid. My deities have changed over the years, I think, as a reflection of my life. And that has worked very well for me.

Snow

[EveningWithAstaroth]

First, thank you both very much for the responses.

SpiritTalker thank you very much. I found your post very informative and have looked at the website you gave in your post a bit as well.

I understand better between practice and culture a bit. Where you've said Green, Cottage, Hedgecraft and such are practice based.

As far as culture, I have a problem. That being I am 33 percent Scottish, and if I look for information on Scottish based witchcraft there simply isn't very much I have found.

I have looked into Scottish Mythology and read about house visiting, in Scottish tradition it is in good form when calling on another, to bring a gift, of some form.

I am finding much of the older ways I suppose very much lost in this age and day.

Much of what I practice within my craft is self taught- it actually isn't very hereditary. My mother was raised Catholic, and my father Christian. My mother would be more witchy than my father, due to her high interest in herbs and she can talk about such things without being judgmental, my passed grandmother was witchy in a way. I've learned what I could from the females of my family, but the bulk of what I have learned has been through experience, mainly with shamanic practice.

I have walked a very tough path. My siblings have too been caught up in it, all of us having to deal with malevolent entities when young.

I have helped their friends through difficult times, with some of these things. One of their friends came to me once for healing, when I asked him why he came to me he told me I was the first person he thought of, he said he felt I would know what to do.

I never called what I do Green witchcraft although I have heard of this while younger, I didn't pay much attention. I always just gathered rocks, stones, herbs, always read about herbs and their medicinal properties, what was poisonous, what herbs you can make rope or cordage from, etc.

I've never had interest in Celtic magic oddly enough, despite my roots from that area. I have Scottish and English on my fathers side and a small percentage of Black foot Native American. On my mothers side from what I know there is French Canadian. My Grandmother and her husband used to argue in Canadian French, as well as English, they could speak both quite fluently.

Perhaps that is why I feel more called to ways of practice than to any cultural type. I have had interest in cultural crafts that are not even my culture at all. I have had interest in Buddhism and Zen, and Japanese culture. I have also had interest in Hinduism slightly. I found out I had accomplished a Hindu Siddhi and was taken by surprise when I found out. I am in no way descended from India or anywhere near there.

Needless to say it has been difficult to find something to stick with, as I love to learn. At the moment the only way I have of describing my path is self taught. It wasn't passed on from family for the most part.

I wish to thank you both for your responses. I am reading up on traditional witchcraft a bit.

Thank you for the help, and patience with me!

Blessings.

[SpiritTalker]

Kelden is of Scottish descent and mentions some references in the 2 book review videos he did and you might be able to have your local library info-desk find a book that you want through their inter-library exchange & read it free or for a loaners fee (ask). Don't be shy about asking. libraries get federal grants to support the inter-library exchange so it's their job & our tax dollars. So please use it!

I did a quick Amazon book search "scottish witchcraft" &' found these:

Scottish Witchcraft & Magic: the Witchcraft of the Picts, Ray Buckland
Scottish Herbs & Fairy Lore, Ellen Everett Hopman (she also has some videos)
Witchcraft & Second Sight of the Highlands & Scottish Islands, John Campbell
Sourcebook of Scottish Witchcraft, Cristina Lamer
Scottish Witchcraft, Ray Brown
Scottish Ghosts &'Witchcraft, G. Stewart
Scottish Witchcraft & Witch hunts, Julian Goodare

You should look them up on amazon and read their reviews for yourself.

I likewise did an amazon book search on "exorcism" and found an extensive list to take to the library. These looked interesting:

Manual of Spiritual Warfare by Paul Thigpen
Hauntings & Possesions by Adam Blai
Exorcism-How to Clear at a Distance a Spiritually Possessed Person by Eugene Maurry.

All solitary witches everywhere are self taught & we all make it up as we go and rely on our senses & intuition. That's what witches do. And the more we expand our interests outside WC, the more we grow. Thankfully you have a family that doesn't flat out reject witchcraft like many modern witches struggle with. That's a fantastic boon. You've already made a relationship with your guide which is a huge benefit. With time comes self-confidence.

I had to pleasantly chuckle as I'd looked at your mega-altar assortment photos in the Feng Shui post because it took me back to when I did much the same activity. I've spent countless hours exorcising those shadow-d's by allowing my magical persona to express itself & grow stronger in the process. Our modern society teaches us psychic folk to repress our greatest strengths and makes us doubt. We work hardest to gain self confidence. Those dragons have been slain apparently because now I have all I need in one corner of my living room & my collection of decorations and variety of tools has been donated to GoodWill.

[EveningWithAstaroth]

Thank you SpiritTalker.

I will be looking into all your suggestions.

And you've reminded me, I'd like to try and get to the library and try and buy a membership.

I've got to get walking more about town this year!

Thanks again.

[SnowCat]

Most library memberships that I know of, are free. The libraries are supported by taxpayer dollars.

[EveningWithAstaroth]

Yes quite right Snow, I somehow meant to say a library card.

As far as I am aware the library around here will charge a one time designated fee amount to take out books.

Pay once, borrow all the books you need- for longer time period reading. Not a bad trade.

Thank you all.

[SpiritTalker]

Just a random thought but you might enjoy mandala drawing. Mandalas are a Tibetan magical form. I was introduced to it as a spell casting technique by someone here at EUTM. Then by browsing good old amazon toys I found a children's mandala template art kit so I knew what to look for in the toy isle of the the local Target. It's been one of the most interesting projects I've done in years.

https://www.art-is-fun.com/how-to-draw-a-mandala

You don't have to purchase that websites ebook to have some printable mandala coloring pages. Just look up images of mandalas and printable mandalas. Free. But for spell use it's better to design your own. Amazon also has grown-up coloring books with many themes, mandalas and witchcraft are 2 popular coloring book themes. So there's free and buy-it options.

[SpiritTalker]

Hah! Had another random thought. You might find Icelandic magical style to be interesting. There's not much in print yet on the rune casting Icelandic ways (less than Scottish) but your other posts reminded me of what little I've read on it. Just do the old amazon search for books to find through the library.

[Shekinah]

I would consider you eclectic and still searching. You might want to contemplate what am I searching for? What is my goal, what do I want from the pursuit of Witchcraft? Once you know what you expect at the end of your quest the path should become more direct.

[SnowCat]

I used to think I needed a specific path. I finally figured out that I will most likely always be eclectic. It leaves plenty of room for adventure and growth.