Natural Witchery: Intuitive, Personal & Practical Magick by Ellen Dugan

From the Publisher

A Friendly Field Guide to Natural Witchery

A natural Witch has an appreciation of nature and an awareness of the magickal energies present in all things. This kinship with the unseen world is at the heart of Witchcraft. It is also the foundation of all magickal work.

You will enhance your spellcrafting, empower your witchery, and add richness and depth to your everyday life by developing your intuition and psychic skills. Natural Witchery features straightforward how-to's, first-hand stories, spells, rituals, fun quizzes, and creative exercises to help you live a more magickal life:

Learn how to tune in to many different kinds of energy, such as the cycles of the moon and the energy of the seasons, and use it to fuel your spellwork  
Explore different types of psychic abilities, and discover your own elemental strengths and challenges
Use natural witchery to create more harmony and balance in your home, workplace, and circle

This friendly guidebook also includes a Book of Witchery with magickal correspondences and a handy journal section for keeping track of your progress.

Publishers Weekly

The author of several titles for the Wicca market, including Garden Witchery, Dugan returns with a lighthearted, gently empowering book for the solitary practitioner. She begins with the premise that "you already have inner wisdom and all the creativity you'll ever need to make magick in your life." From there, she outlines several steps including developing readers' psychic abilities, tapping into the cycles of the moon and sensing the energies of the seasons that are designed to encourage readers to practice the craft from a more spiritually centered place and ease their anxieties about whether they're "good enough" Wiccans. Interspersed throughout the text are lively anecdotes from Dugan's own Samantha Stephensesqe household. She speaks of her struggles to deal with nosy evangelical Christians and her teenage daughter's rejection-cum-furtive acceptance of her mother's religion. She also chats about some uncomfortable experiences she's had in group settings with other Wiccans where her own intuitive approach to the craft has been frowned upon by practitioners who are supposedly more learned. While some more experienced Witches will likely find Dugan's spells and spiritual practices to be boilerplate, the value of this book lies in the warm, personal touch Dugan uses both in her writing and in her craft. (June)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Dina Komuves - Library Journal

According to a 2001 American Religious Identification survey, an estimated 134,000 Americans see themselves as Wiccans. It may be assumed that the number of neopagan adherents is even higher, as many fear that disclosure will bring misunderstanding and suspicion and are thus hesitant to identify themselves as such. Still others may simply practice pagan syncretism, i.e., the incorporation of specific elements of various spiritualities into a distinctive path. With the goal of fostering spiritual development within a personal pagan practice, Dugan (Garden Witchery: Magick from the Ground Up) emphasizes "natural magicks" and draws from innate intuitive talents. Her primer for "green" witchcraft-i.e., witchcraft in tune with seasonal elements-is a gold mine of concepts and resources for the novice to intermediate practitioner. The seasoned adept, too, will find the handy correspondence lists and exercises immensely useful. Also included are spells, rituals, and blank space for a personal grimoireto jot down ideas and insights. Chock-full of relevant wisdom and lively humor, this is a valuable addition to any avid pagan's personal reference library. Appropriate for all libraries with alternative spirituality collections.

• Table of Contents
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Table of Contents

Read an Excerpt

The most beautiful experience we can
have is the mysterious … the
fundamental emotion which stands at
the cradle of true art and true science. Albert Einstein



The Natural Witch and Intuition
The natural Witch is often self-trained. These down-to-earth practitioners absolutely rely on study, personal judgment, and their intuition. It has often been said that a Witch never stops studying and learning. This statement is very true and at the heart of the natWitch's craft. I find it interesting that if you look up the meaning of the word “craft” in Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, you'll discover a most illuminating definition: Craft (n.) 1. Strength, skill. 2. Skill in planning, making, or executing. 3. An occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill.

Witchcraft is a craft. It requires hands-on practice as you study and learn to become proficient at it. And just like any other type of craft, it can take years to find your own style and to develop your own personal techniques. And if you remember nothing else, remember that. This is about exploring your magickal preferences and celebrating your magickal style.

I honestly don't care how Hannah the High Priestess does it three states over; I care about you and what your interests and talents are. For this is how you become an adept practitioner. You get in there, rely on your instincts, roll up your sleeves, study, experiand do the work. Welcome to a journey of self-discovery.

So what makes you you? Defining who we are is more than the size of clothing you wear or the color of your eyes and hair. Ourindividuality comes from a light that is inof us: that divine spark we all carry. It's our insights, spirits, and personality. Trying to categorize Witches and magickal practitioners is a tough job. Sure, we all have our faways to describe ourselves, but let's step outside of the box, shall we? Celebrating our diversity in the Craft is an amazingly wonderful thing.

We are not all the same--thank Goddess! We each have our own ideas and ways of practicing our craft. This should be celebrated, because that's what makes us powerful, our personality and our individuality. And don't you ever forget it.

If you'd like to celebrate your right to be a magickal individual who listens to their intuition and follows their heart in the Craft, you have come to the right place. If these qualities remind you of yourself, then a natural approach to witchery is a good place for you to hang your Witch's hat. In the past, I have explored magick in the garden, in the home, and on each and every day of the week. This time, I want to go a little deeper and discuss our spirituality and individuality and to focus on our intuitions.

Learning how to trust your intuition, instincts, and psychic impressions is a phenomway to boost the power of your natural magick. And before you start to argue, everyhas intuition and psychic abilities! It's simply up to the individual to look inside and to realize their own potential. Just as the Charge of the Goddess states, if you can't find what you're looking for within yourself, you'll never find it without.

Now is when you must search deep inside your psyche and learn to be comfortable with yourself. I promise if you have the courage to do that, then you can develop new skills and a sensitivity to the magick around you. You will comprehend how to influyour environment and how to live your magickal life to the fullest. Together, we will discover how taking the journey within makes us stronger, unique, and more adept practitioners of the Craft.
The more we know, the better our intuition.
Christina Stead



Intuition:

What It Is and Why It Is Important

Magick is not only about working in harmony with the four elements and the natural world, it also involves listening to your intuition. Intuition itself comes from the primipart of our brains--the primal force called the survival instinct. This force comvital information from a different level of the consciousness, sometimes
dramatically, sometimes mundanely. Intuition doesn't arrive with swirls of pixie dust and an enchanting chime of harp strings; it's simply always there.

Intuition may be defined as a quick and ready insight and immediate apprehension or cognition--the good old-fashioned “gut hunch.” You just know. For example, parents are very intuitive. They usually instinctively know when one of their kids is up to someor if one of them is ill. How about that feeling in the pit of your stomach that makes you turn around just in time to yank your toddler away from the hot stove? Or the hunch that makes you change lanes while driving because another driver is making you nervous, just in time to see that driver cut someone else off? When you realize with a start that if you hadn't paid attention and followed that hunch, you could have been in an accident. That's your intuition.

Discovering your psychic abilities and working with your intuition is more simple than you think. It's easier to trust your instincts when you feel a Witch's connection to the natural world and the divine. This psychic ability is part of your genetic makeup, and it is a tool and an ally. Once you learn how to honor and tap into your intuition, your magick and your life improve for the better.

One theory I found is that magickal experiences are intuitive experiences felt at the spirilevel. When I uncovered this, I was thrilled. Intuition isn't just a psychic thing; it is so much more. This natural ability corresponds with the magickal trinity of the earth, sea, and sky. No fooling! Intuition is associated with three main levels of awareness: the physical level, your bodily sensations, which ties to the earth; the emotional level, your feelings, which corresponds to the element of water and the sea; and finally the mental level, images and ideas, which links the element of air and the sky.

Paying attention to and then acting on your intuition is a leap of faith. It is a daring thing to do. Everyone has some type of psychic ability, and intuition is one of the easiest psychic abilities to coax out. And I'm about to show you just how to go about it. In this chapter, we will take a look at the different types of psychic abilities and see how to idenand access them. Let's get better acquainted with intuition so we can incorporate this very personal and individual psychic power into your life and your magick.

The psychic mind is both the key and doorway to our magickal talents.
Christopher Penczak


Psychic Abilities and the Craft
As magickal practitioners, it is well worth taking the time to explore our psychic abiliAcquiring an understanding of what our individual gifts are and how they work will enable us to connect with the wisdom deep within our own souls. This makes persense to me, as the word psychic originally comes from the Greek word psyche, mean“soul.” This chapter will help you identify and discover your own strengths, as well as present ideas for adding this soul-power to your magick.

Without a doubt, we all have psychic abilities of some sort. If you look up the term psychic today, it is typically used to describe a person who is sensitive to nonphysical or supernatural forces. Now, personally, I don't buy into the term supernatural. Intuition and psychic abilities are perfectly natural; there is nothing otherworldly about them. I think a better term is “unseen.” These unseen forces are all around you, all the time. To sense them, you need only to open up your awareness and take your sensitivity to a whole new level. So, how do you start? By acknowledging your intuition. This act can open up a person to many new levels of consciousness.

You do have the right to follow and express your intuition. Intuition is sometimes called the sixth sense. The sixth sense is beyond the traditional five of hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch. The sixth sense is an internal awareness and a sense of percepthat is outside of the expected, everyday flow of physical impressions and thoughts. These intuitive messages can be subtle--you may not even realize they are there until you train yourself to pay attention. At other times, they may grab hold of you and not shake loose until you focus on what they are trying to tell you.

Some folks will experience intuition as a quick spark of inspiration or sense it as a strong “gut hunch.” You know, that feeling you get down in your belly that tightens painuntil you pay attention? That's a gut hunch. Other people think of it as an inner voice that whispers to them, and some folks experience psychic abilities in full-color images and visions. It's also common to get a combination effect of several of the above. No matter how it manifests, intuition is a powerful guide and ally.

Well then, how do you get the psychic abilities to “turn on”? You start by testing
yourand then you practice and begin working out those psychic muscles. There are a few tips and tricks I have learned over the years, and these psychic exercises can help you trigger your extrasensory abilities. Everyone can benefit from these exercises, and bethat, they are a lot of fun to do. The reason for flexing these new mystical muscles is simple: the more you develop your psychic abilities, the clearer your own magickal path can become.


P s y c h i c  E x e r c i s e s

Light Up Those Chakras

The seven chakras are zones of energy. Picture them as glowing orbs of energy arin a line straight down the center of the body. The chakras are all the colors of the rainbow:
One of the basic steps to turning on your psychic abilities is to light up the chakras. By this, I mean you envision them as pulsing with bright, glowing colors.
Studying the energy centers of the body could fill up an entire book on its own, but we are going to keep this simple here. This is a visualization exercise that only takes about five minutes. It calls for you to picture the chakras as glowing orbs of energy, and then turn up their light, so you visualize them glowing brightly and pulsing with energy.

Begin by getting out paper and a pen so you can quickly write down your impreswhen you are finished with the exercise. Set them in a handy spot nearby. You can start this exercise by sitting easily on the floor and resting your hands comfortably in your lap. Roll your head around gently, and stretch out your neck and shoulders. Close your eyes. (This act will force you to focus on your psychic impressions, not your physiones.) Take a few deep, cleansing breaths, and ground and center yourself.

Now picture the root chakra that sits at the base of your spine. This orb of light is bright red. This chakra is known as the seat of power, and it is a place of raw energy and a grounding force. This chakra connects you to the physical world. Picture this ball of light as glowing with a vivid red and warm light.

Next move up to the belly chakra. This chakra center is between the base of the spine and your navel, in the abdomen area. This sphere of light is orange. This chakra is thought to influence your instincts, emotions, and personal power. This is the area where “gut hunches” begin. Light it up and see the orb as glowing a beautiful, bright orIf you feel your belly clenching as you turn on this power area, take a deep breath, and try to relax those muscles. After a moment, go ahead and move on.

Now we go to the solar plexus. This is directly beneath the rib cage and above the navel. This orb is a brilliant yellow color, and as you focus on this area you may notice it tightening up as well. What do you sense when you focus on this psychic center? This is considered the “soul area,” and your psychic intuition and personal power are linked to this region of the body, as is your magickal will. This is the energy center where psyimpressions physically gather. At this point of the body, you can literally feel the intuitive impressions tighten up your muscles. Give yourself a moment to experience the sensation, and gather any impressions as you light up this area.

Next, turn your focus to the heart chakra. It will be a gorgeous grass-green color, found right where you'd expect it--the middle of the chest. From this energy center, your emotions and love radiate out. Unconditional love and strong emotions come from this chakra. Light up this sphere and feel the sensation of perfect love and perfect trust spread out through your whole body. Enjoy this lovely sensation for a bit, and then move on to the next chakra.

The throat chakra is located at the hollow of the throat. This chakra is a stunning sapblue. Turn it on, and visualize it as glowing bright along with the other chakras. This chakra controls how we communicate with others and how well we listen. Psychic hearing is governed from this area. As you visualize this chakra expanding and lighting up, listen carefully and see what your inner voice has to say.

Next, shift your focus up to the middle of your forehead, the third eye area. This chakra is a gorgeous amethyst-violet color. This energy center is the point of your psyvision and perception. Illuminate this orb of light. Take a moment to experience the difference in your awareness as you focus on the center of energy that clairvoyance (called psychic sight) comes from. Give yourself a short time, and “see” what you can perceive.

Lastly, shift your attention to the top of your head, called the crown. The crown chakra is a brilliant white, and this where we experience and sense the divine in our lives. Here is where you link to the God and Goddess, in everyday life and during magick. From this chakra, we experience divine love. Let this orb billow out in a dazzling white halo, and take a moment to experience the love of all of creation.

Now that all seven chakras are lit up and pulsing with positive energy, take a few moand enjoy the experience. What sort of psychic impressions are you gathering? Does one part of your body feel more “turned up” than the others? Focus on it, and ask yourself what you need to know. Don't think this to death; just see what you feel.

After a little while, turn down the brightness of the chakras. I like to picture a dimswitch that I turn so the light gets softer. If it will help, pantomime the action of turning the switch down in a counterclockwise turn. If you notice one of the chakras is still bigger than the others or you have a tightening in one part of your body, take a deep breath, and make those muscles relax. If it helps, rub your hands over the area to help the muscles loosen up.

Then reach down to the floor directly in front of the base chakra and “zip” all the seven chakras closed. Raise your hand up in front of your body, in a straight line, and finish up as high as you can reach. No muss, no fuss. If you don't fling your arm around, it appears to the casual observer that you are merely stretching.

Ground and center, placing the palms of your hands flat on the ground. Hold that pose for a moment so that you may send any excess energy safely back into the earth and so you can pull up stabilizing energy from the earth as well, should you need it. Allow yourself to relax. Once you've done that, open your eyes, place your hands in a natural pose, and relax your posture. Take some time to jot down your impressions. Now that you've worked your way through this chakra exercise once, it only gets easier and quicker every time.

Receive Psychic Impressions as Easy as 1-2-3

If you want to receive psychic impressions swiftly, light up the chakras in order, just as in the first exercise. Then visualize the belly (orange), solar plexus (yellow), and third eye chakra (violet) spinning, expanding, and growing larger than the rest of the other chakras.

Hold this image in place for a few moments, and allow your perceptions to open up. Shift your attentions inward, and let your mind drift. What do you see, hear, or sense? What pops into your mind, and what causes you to have a physical reaction? By that I mean what impressions made your solar plexus or belly area tighten? After a few moturn the power down so all the chakras are the same size and intensity. Now zip them closed, and ground and center. Jot down your impressions. This 1-2-3 technique also comes in handy while working with any divinatory tool, such as the tarot or runes. It also helps when practicing psychometry, the psychic reading of objects by touch.
Find the Ace of Spades

This is a simple and fun way to warm up those psychic muscles. You will need one deck of regular playing cards. We'll work with playing cards here, because the images are bold and simple.

From the deck, pull out the ace of spades, the ace of hearts, and the ace of diamonds. Set the rest of the deck to the side. Now turn the three aces face down on a table, and mix them up well. Slide them back and forth in a circular motion over each other until you have no idea where the ace of spades is. Now, keeping the cards face down, line them up from left to right in a horizontal line in front of you. Now hold your hand over each card (without touching it), and guess where the ace of spades is. Think only about the suit of spades and the color black. Turn over your choice. How did you do?

With this exercise, you'll get to experiment and see how your intuition communiwith your conscious mind. You may hear an inner voice saying “this card.” You may see the ace of spades in your mind's eye or the card may have a different “feel.” Your solar plexus area may tighten up when you hold your hand over the correct card, or you may just know.

Try this exercise again, only this time touch the cards--see if that helps you find the ace of spades more easily. Then repeat for as long as you like. When finished, take a moand write down how you intuited the correct card most often. Was it by listening to an inner voice? Did you sense the ace by touch? Or did you just instinctively know? Were you able to gather the information by a psychic visual impression or by tuning in to your solar plexus and following your gut hunch?

Now that you have your intuition turned on and are warming up and beginning to understand the process, let's take this neat little test and see where your psychic strengths lie.



The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery.
There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition
or what you will, the solution comes to you
and you don't know how or why.
The truly valuable thing is the intuition.

Albert Einstein