Getting the Balance Right

something suddenly shifted in him. He froze for a second, sighed, and said, “You’re hopeless. I can’t even beat sense into you.” He turned around and left my room, and went to sit in his recliner in the living room. To this day, I still don’t understand how he acted in such an unexpected way that was not typical of his behavior. Later that night, he gave me the emotional manipulation statement he often said to keep me hostage. “I swear, if you don’t get in line, I’m going to call your social worker and have them take you away again.” For years this tactic worked, as the only thing I had feared more than my grandfather was the thought of having to go through the foster care system again.

However, it didn’t work this time. I remember that a force of some kind palpably came over me, and suddenly I was filled with the spirit of courage. Like David staring down Goliath right in the eyes, I said with a voice of calm and centered strength I had never experienced in my life, “Do it.” Every ounce of my being had meant it, and that steadfast conviction had been conveyed. I remember the shock in his eyes and his expression. Testing me again, he said, “I’ll call her right now,” as he reached for the phone, staring me in the eyes in a contentious showdown of will, hoping that I would back down. I didn’t budge. Angry at my reaction, he had called right in front of me. I silently prayed in my head to the Goddess that I could escape but not end up in foster care. A couple of days later, my social worker arrived to talk to me. She had informed me that my father’s brother in Southern California had synchronically reached out to them without my knowledge, saying that he and his wife would take me in until my father went through the legal battles to get full custody of me again.

The bully spell worked. My prayer to the Goddess worked. Magick works. Through witchcraft, I learned that I don’t have to be a passive character in my story, a victim of circumstance. I discovered that I could be the author of it and direct the course and direction that my life story narrative takes. Witchcraft has continuously transformed me and my life. It can do all of this for you as well. That is why I am so passionate about teaching and sharing witchcraft with others. It’s also why I have written this book: to share with you what I’ve learned since my initial interest in witchcraft and how I understand magick to work, along with my observations, tips, and troubleshooting. I want you to take control of the narrative of your life when it seems that everything is hopeless and working against you. I want you to be empowered through witchcraft as I have been.

The Mysteries of Magick

In witchcraft, we have a term called “the Mysteries.” The Mysteries are great truths that you come to actualize through experience. You can sort of intellectually understand the Mysteries to some degree but can’t fully come to know them as truths until you experience them directly. One of the best quotes regarding the Mysteries as experiential comes from an unlikely place: Frank Herbert’s novel Dune. In the novel, the protagonist Paul Atreides is talking to Thufir, a Mentat and the head of security for the Atreides family. In the Dune universe, a Mentat is a person who has developed the ability to use their mental faculties for complicated computations, since computers and “thinking machines” were banned by humanity. Within the novel and its sequels is a secretive organization of nun-like women called the Bene Gesserit. They have undergone physical and mental conditioning to develop superhuman powers and abilities similar to magick and psychic ability, for which they are often called witches by others. Paul tells Thufir about a conversation he had with the Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit, “She said the mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience. So I quoted the First Law of Mentat at her: ‘A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it.’That seemed to satisfy her.”5

A wisdom phrase among elders in witchcraft is “Guard the Mysteries. Reveal them constantly.” So, before we explore magick any further, I want to reveal one of the Great Mysteries of the path of witchcraft that I will repeat several times throughout this book. Are you ready for it? You might want to be sitting down for this one. Here it is. We are all One and the All is you. That’s it. Was that underwhelming? I’m sure you’re expecting something way more profound than that. Something more mysterious and secret. However, I have come to believe that all witchcraft and magick are based on that Mystery. So, what exactly does that mean? To unpack it, let’s discuss what witchcraft is. Whenever I’m interviewed, one of the most common questions I’m asked is what exactly witchcraft is or isn’t. You’d think that would be an easy question, but it isn’t; this is due to the diversity of witchcraft practices and the fact that there isn’t a Pope of Witchcraft telling us what it officially is and isn’t. But there must be something that unifies witchcraft. For me, that answer involves the Mystery

5. Herbert, Dune, 40.