Question regarding traditional witchcraft

[Mooncat the Blue]

Originally Posted by Crystal Ambassador

SerpentSun, I deeply enjoyed your post and it resonated quite a bit with me.

Mooncat, it's my understanding that witchcraft draws on the same set of beliefs and power as modalities like shamanism; wherein, there's a belief that nature and spirits contain powers that can be used or given towards helping a practitioner accomplish something. I've noticed that both ways typically involve asking, rather than demanding, for the help of spirits and nature. They also involve a belief that those forces are intelligent enough to be able to direct their energy to where it needs to go, and the belief that those forces must still be treated with respect. I don't know ancient spells but from what I've seen of modern stuff, they seem to involve those beliefs. I believe the objects in rituals is twofold; to both help the practitioner clear their mind to focus on what they want/how to direct energy, and to have energy sources near them that is relevant to what their doing. For example, this seems to be how spells work;
The practitioner has a goal in mind, and gathers objects related to that. Let's say they're doing a general cleansing, so they bring crystals and objects that embody that; perhaps a white candle to symbolize purity, a citrine to clean things away, and some salt for absorbing negativity. They also bring amethysts for protection from the negativity, and a wand to direct energy. They them form a protective circle with the amethyst and wand, and then light the candle. They speak their spell - either one they wrote themselves or a tried-and-true one they know - explaining what's going on and asking spirits or nature to help; they may ask natural water to come in and wash away the negativity, fire to come in and burn away the negavity, or perhaps ask spirits or deities they trust to come help. I know in Wicca it's common to thank the spirits afterward, and say something that signals closure; "My will so mote it be/my will so it was written", though I imagine these things are up to personal choice.
Overall it seems pretty straightforward, and I imagine this is basically what's been done since olden times. The shamanism technique is similar, except that the practitioner usually uses a drum to enter a trance, then leaves their body and meets the spirits in their realm rather than calling them forth. The method is still similar, and a shamanic practitioner will ask for spirits who are helpful to meet them and provide energy; afterward the practitioner may or may not bring back the energy of the helping spirit.
Both paths seem to stem from the same source, just with slightly different methods of accessing the helping spirits and energy. I would say that if you're interested in witchcraft, you look to ways to help you connect with and become familiar with spirits and natural forces. Once that's established it's just a matter of knowing how to ask for their help in a spell, setting up ritual space and using ritual tools.

Thanks, that was very helpful.

[Mooncat the Blue]

Thank you Lepus, you know exactly what I'm talking about and thank you SerpantSun for reminding me to connect with my roots. Native american shamanism is something I want to learn from a teacher. I can't learn druidry or wizardry from a teacher so I have to use books. There are so many natives around me in my new area in the mountains, I just need a car.

[Mooncat the Blue]

Update, I just found a native american healing center 5 minutes away.