The Shamanic Witch


Book Description

Shamanic practice seeks healing and wisdom from realms that overlap the everyday world. The use of plant and animal medicines, vision quests, trance work, and ceremonies to heal one's self and others are the foundations of shamanism. So too, Wicca and witchcraft use the magic and medicine of plants, animals, and other realms. By learning to incorporate the practices of shamanism, the witch can enhance his or her natural abilities as healer and creator of positive change. The Shamanic Witch outlines the many similarities between the art of shamanism and the craft of the Witch and explores how the overlapping of these two traditions can be used to enhance one's practice. Where witchcraft brings the belief and religion, Shamanism brings the skills. Sections include: Understanding the World of the shaman, Creatures and Spirits of Other Realms, Developing a Shamanic Practice, The Toolkit of the Shamanic Practitioner, The Realms of the Witch, and Melding Worlds: Becoming the Witch-Shaman.




The Temple of Shamanic Witchcraft


Book Description

Is shamanism all that different from modern witchcraft? According to Christopher Penczak, Wicca's roots go back 20,000 years to the Stone Age shamanic traditions of tribal cultures worldwide. A fascinating exploration of the Craft's shamanic origins, The Temple of Shamanic Witchcraft offers year-and-a-day training in shamanic witchcraft. Penczak's third volume of witchcraft teachings corresponds to the water element - guiding the reader into this realm of emotion, reflection, and healing. The twelve formal lessons cover shamanic cosmologies, journeying, dreamwork, animal/plant/stone medicine, totems, soul retrieval, and psychic surgery. Each lesson includes exercises (using modern techniques and materials), assignments, and helpful tips. The training ends with a ritual for self-initiation into the art of the shamanic witch--culminating in an act of healing, rebirth, and transformation. COVR Award Winner




Witchcraft and the Shamanic Journey


Book Description

This beautifully written book will show seekers of the magical arts how to reclaim the old traditions of our pagan ancestors, which, as this book will show, were heavily rooted in shamanism. Kenneth Johnson takes the reader on a journey far into the past where these shamanistic practices of medieval and Renaissance European people can be explored while simultaneously teaching the working Witch how to incorporate these older traditions into their own magical practice. Included in this book are explorations of the mystical otherworld, instructions on how to discover one's Tree of Power, methods of entering the World Mountain to gain wisdom, an in-depth overview of folkloric initiatory practices, the folklore of the Wild Hunt, and much more.




Witchcraft Medicine


Book Description

An in-depth investigation of traditional European folk medicine and the healing arts of witches • Explores the outlawed “alternative” medicine of witches suppressed by the state and the Church and how these plants can be used today • Reveals that female shamanic medicine can be found in cultures all over the world • Illustrated with color and black-and-white art reproductions dating back to the 16th century Witch medicine is wild medicine. It does more than make one healthy, it creates lust and knowledge, ecstasy and mythological insight. In Witchcraft Medicine the authors take the reader on a journey that examines the women who mix the potions and become the healers; the legacy of Hecate; the demonization of nature’s healing powers and sensuousness; the sorceress as shaman; and the plants associated with witches and devils. They explore important seasonal festivals and the plants associated with them, such as wolf’s claw and calendula as herbs of the solstice and alder as an herb of the time of the dead--Samhain or Halloween. They also look at the history of forbidden medicine from the Inquisition to current drug laws, with an eye toward how the sacred plants of our forebears can be used once again.




North Star Road


Book Description

This book reveals -- through a compelling mix of scholarly research, global mythology and lucid story-telling -- the spiritual roots of Western culture: shamanism. An in-depth study of the witchcraft trial records and the testimony of the witches themselves proves that the European peasants accused of witchcraft died, in fact, for the sake of the world's oldest spiritual path. Learn why Shamanism has survived in one form or another to this day.




Ecstatic Witchcraft


Book Description

Journey down a shamanic path that embraces the ecstatic, the wild, the gnostic, the transformative, and the visionary. Expanding on principles touched on in his book By Land, Sky & Sea: Three Realms of Shamanic Witchcraft, Gede Parma walks you through an apprenticeship designed to ground and orient you on the path of the Shamanic Craft. Discover the meaning of ecstasy. Encounter the three realms. Learn shamanic techniques and rituals that will give you a more primal, authentic experience of Witchcraft, including: Drawing Down the Gods Working with Spirit Allies Trance and Moving Between the Worlds Ecstatic Spellcraft Healing and Soul Retrieval Seership and Divination Praise: "Smart, thought-provoking and useful...A worthy contribution to the continuing growth and evolution of shamanic Wicca by a passionate and poetic member of the next generation."—Phyllis W. Curott, author of Witch Crafting: A Spiritual Guide to Making Magic




Shamanism and Witchcraft


Book Description

A compelling and honest examination of shamanic techniques as they are being practiced in Neopagan Witchcraft in the 1990s. Fourteen contributors tell how they have integrated techniques such as trance journeys, soul retrieval, and altered states of consciousness. Also, learn to incorporate caves for ritual and inner journeys, how spirit contacts are made, how guides are perceived and much more.




Witch Crafting


Book Description

The author of Book of Shadows digs deep into the practices and principles of Witchcraft to provide a comprehensive guidebook that anyone—novices and seasoned practitioners alike—can use to incorporate the beauty and power ofWicca into their own daily lives. Phyllis Curott’s first book, Book of Shadows, was an inspirational, spiritual memoir that chronicled her journey from Ivy League-educated, New York City attorney to Wiccan High Priestess. By inviting readers of all faiths to share in her own personal transformation, Phyllis debunked many of the myths surrounding Wicca and revealed it for what it really is: a spiritual movement whose tenets of Goddess worship and reverence for Nature were a great deal more accessible and familiar than she’d ever expected. Far from being just another mechanical spell book, Witch Crafting is the first book to offer readers not only the how-to of Witchcraft, but also the why-to, explaining the profound spiritual tenets behind Wiccan techniques. Filled with both traditional and innovative shamanic practices, Phyllis also provides an empowering new definition of magic and reexamines the ethics under which Witchcraft is practiced, offering a groundbreaking alternative to the Threefold Law. With enchanting stories from Curott’s own experiences, Witch Crafting will also teach you how to: • Master the secret arts of effective spellcasting • Create sacred space and personal rituals • Perform divinations for spiritual insight and earthly success • Tap into the power of altered states, such as dreaming, meditation, prayer, and trance • Keep a magical journal and create your own Book of Shadows Rich with detailed advice for making magic, working with Nature, and finding the Divine within, as well as thought-provoking evaluations of this remarkable spirituality, Witch Crafting is the special volume that you’ve been searching for. Whether you are a beginner or have been practicing Witchcraft for years, whether you worship in a coven or on your own, Witch Crafting is the ideal handbook for you, or anyone seeking to unlock the divine power that makes real magic happen and experience the ecstasy, energy, and gifts of the Universe more fully.




Hopi Stories of Witchcraft, Shamanism, and Magic


Book Description

The traditional Hopi world, as reflected in Hopi oral literature, is infused with magic?a seamless tapestry of everyday life and the supernatural. That magic and wonder are vividly depicted in this marvelous collection of authentic folktales. For the Hopis, the spoken or sung word can have a magical effect on others. Witchcraft?the wielding of magic for selfish purposes by a powaqa, or sorcerer?has long been a powerful, malevolent force. Sorcerers are said to have the ability to change into animals such as a crow, a coyote, a bat, or a skeleton fly, and hold their meetings in a two-tiered kiva to the northeast of Hopi territory. Shamanism, the more benevolent but equally powerful use of magic for healing, was once commonplace but is no longer practiced among the Hopis. Shamans, or povosyaqam, often used animal familiars and quartz crystals to help them to see, diagnose, and cure illnesses. Spun through these tales are supernatural beings, otherworldly landscapes, magical devices and medicines, and shamans and witches. One story tells about a man who follows his wife one night and discovers that she is a witch, while another relates how a jealous woman uses the guise of an owl to make a rival woman's baby sick. Other tales include the account of a boy who is killed by kachinas and then resurrected as a medicine man and the story of a huge rattlesnake, a giant bear, and a mountain lion that forever guard the entrance to Maski, the Land of the Dead.




Wiccecraeft


Book Description

'Wiccecrá¦ft'' delves into the mysterious and predominantly hidden world of dark ages England to discover the shamanic roots of modern Witchcraft. Central to the journey is the reality of the Otherworld, a spiritual realm of elves and daemons which our ancestors used to bring power to their magic, healing and divination. Sinead explores this forgotten past from her research with actual Anglo-Saxon magical manuscripts such as the Lacnunga and Bald's Leechbook to present a work full of information, rituals, meditations and exercises designed for Witches, non-Witches, Wiccans and interested explorers who desire to re-awaken an ancient shamanic magical consciousness within the modern world. Presented over six chapters with introduction, bibliography and an appendix detailing how to pronounce Old English for those who wish to try.