Spellcasting

In the forest in back of my childhood home there is a stream surrounded by an old rock wall. It used to provide water for my grandfather's cows when it was an apple orchard and dairy farm. But now the hemlocks, pines, and birches dominate, and the little stream is unknown except by me, my immediate family, and the occasional hunter or hiker.

There is a spot in it where a flat slab of rock was set to create a waterfall. There, I would sit for hours as a child and watch the wildly running water in the Spring and Autumn, and explore underneath the rock slab when summer dried the stream bed to a cracking crust; the cold winter created a crystalline paradise underneath where water leaked through the frozen earth.

It was there that I learned to cast spells.

A spell is essentially manipulating symbols in order to create change within or without. So, philosophically, I usually define any action as a spell since our brains are symbol creators and manipulators. But what I taught myself was how to ritualistically cast a spell.

A heartbroken adolescent is apt to not think rationally, and facing the tumultuous emotions of this stage, I ignored the anti-spell teachings of my Christian upbringing and experimented. Having no books on witchcraft or paganism, and not daring to bring any into my house, I created my own spells from one premise: if it made me feel better, than it worked. My first spell (though arguably, I had prayed before, this seemed different then) was writing the name of a girl I had been infatuated with but rejected me on a piece of paper, and burned it on the rock slab of the stream. It made me feel better. Burning the paper was symbolic of removing her hold on my heart.

Many years later I began studying psychology, philosophy, and art in college, and with spirituality on my mind, the mechanisms behind how spells and rituals affect change became clear. Symbol manipulation is the foundation of art (later still, I applied this idea to science and existence in general as well), and art is the foundation of rituals and spellcasting. When I create a sigil to engrave onto a piece of fruit as an offering, I am imbuing symbols with meaning and using them to create intrapersonal change, and then perhaps interpersonally.

Poetry and music are my most potent spells. When I create a song or poem, I am manipulating symbols to create something that holds powerful meaning to both me and the observer. With these spells, I open my very soul to the universe, and allow my existence to be perceived and interpreted. That is the true power of spellcasting!

And, it's just plain fun!

When I go back to that spot at the stream, I ritualistically splash water on my face and say something symbolic and meaningful to me like, "In the embrace of my Mother Earth and Father Sun, I am reborn." It is symbolic of the washing away of accumulated stress, pain, and "sin" at a place that is spiritually bubbling over with the power of my personality.