While a newcomer to the Craft may be under the mistaken belief that magical work involves strange and supernatural powers, further study and understanding will eventually show them that the processes used, while meeting public skepticism, are in fact quite normal and an inherent part of the human experience. One of the most well studied aspects of the psychic abilities the Witch or magician can utilize in seeking knowledge is the ability to send their consciousness out from their bodies to witness objects and events at great distances.

The traditional lore calls this separation of the spirit part of a human being from their living body to travel across the etheric level of reality astral projection. Closely aligned with this process is the moving of the pure consciousness to another location and is called astral projection. In the late twentieth century this process acquired the label of 'remote viewing'. Surprisingly this intense study of the ability to travel along the astral level was instigated by the Central Intelligence Agency.

Despite the continuing controversy that surrounds the well-known Ouija board, it is still an often-effective tool for divination. When used carefully and properly its use can provide a vast array of hidden information and help. That it is the primary choice of those who do not know the correct way to deal with matters of the spiritual realm is the main reason it has obtained such a bad reputation.

Basically the Ouija board is a simple tool that provides a focus for one's energies at a point which is easy for spirit entities to interact. Since it is often difficult for such etheric energy beings to manipulate matter on the material world, the lightweight planchette and spillover energy from the operator's aura allow easier movement of the physical mass of the object for relaying messages. The Ouija board is but a tool and like any tool can be applied for good or bad.

As the neo-pagan movement grows in this modern age, there is one style of Witchcraft that goes often overlooked and under appreciated. Without much in the way of support or ceremonial trappings, the usually solitary Green Witch goes about their way gracefully caring for the life of the planet and its children.

Green Witchcraft exhibits itself in ways that are closer to nature and its life-giving forces than the ceremonial paths of larger groups that hold with hierarchies and dogmatic rituals. This is a form of knowing and learning of the basic principles of herbcraft for healing and prevention of diseases. It is a path of listening to the problems and difficulties of the people around them and finding natural solutions.

There is a longstanding debate that rages among the practitioners of Witchcraft as to what separates the magic worker from the Wiccan. While nothing in either the Craft or Wicca is so firmly set in dogma as to give a rigid definition, there are a few basic principles that set them apart.

To begin with, Wicca is a religion. Even among the vastly different paths the followers of Wicca travel it is designed to create a lifestyle that seeks harmony and balance between themselves and the universe around them. Wicca as a religion is still fairly young in the world. It arose in the mid-twentieth century as a modern expression of ancient pre-Christian religions and ways primarily based on the European Celtic models. Wicca has also borrowed a bit from the ceremonial aspects of such magical societies as the Order of the Golden Dawn. In Wicca's symbology there is a great deal of the old-world concepts of the duel nature of divinity and the individual's Gnostic connection with that divine power.

One of the inevitable side-effects of learning Witchcraft is the heightened ability to recognize and have to deal with various etheric creatures that, due to being more of the spirit realm, are unknown to modern science. While invisible to normal vision, these entities are no less real or unnatural than any other living being on the planet. Some of them need to be understood and acknowledged as they can have severe and often detrimental effects on living organisms.

The term used for one of these entities is 'larvae'. In life a person's soul within the mortal body is encased within an ethereal shell as well. Upon the 'death' of an individual the spirit or soul of that person abandons the earthly shell as well as the etheric shell that contained it on this plain of existence. When the life energy is removed, the mortal flesh begins the process of decay through the action of microorganisms of a material nature. That still leaves the empty etheric shell that held the spirit in place. This too must be decomposed to clear up the etheric landscape.

Magic and Witchcraft consists of training yourself to be orderly and organized in both mind and actions. It is a learning process that is designed to grow continuously as you practice and learn more about the universe around you and the inner workings of the mind. The most appropriate place to keep a record of what you do and learn is in your own Book of Shadows.

A Book of Shadows is not so much a 'Witches Bible' as it is a 'Witches Diary and Study Guide'. It is the one personal tool that you use to keep notes on what spells you have used, what events have happened in your workings and things to investigate next. Done correctly your Book of Shadows will be the ultimate reference manual as you learn your Craft.

While the glamour of magic as a means of personal improvement is one of the most attractive aspects of the Craft, this same power can be utilized to make a difference in the entire global community. It is a given that thought creates reality and that this has a universal effect on humanity and the world we live on even though the individual may have no conscious knowledge of that fact. As trained magicians, those in the Craft can focus their energies to help raise the level of enlightenment for the whole human race.

It has been proven through scientific research that there does seem to be a global consciousness that is shared on a subconscious level across the entire spectrum of humanity around the globe. In the early 1970's Rupert Sheldrake, a biologist at Princeton University, began studying what amounts to a globally shared morphogenic field which contains information much like an electromagnetic field carries energy. This field of global subconscious contains all the information in existence although most of it goes unrealized. The greater the amount of shared conscious knowledge on a specific topic there is, the easier it is for the essence of that knowledge to be realized by others.

The spoken word is a key element in the performance of any type of ritual or ceremonial working whether in magic or religious functions. The words you use are designed to shape and give power to your request, be it an invocation to force a change in your reality through your force of will or implore the aid of a god or entity to grant a request.

While many feel there is a vast difference between magic spells and religious prayers, there are a number of surprising similarities between what is essentially the same form of communication. The particular method of performing a spell or prayer has its own cultural differences but are in essence very closely related to each other. Both prayers and spells are a request or petition for a 'higher' power to grant a specific outcome or effect. Both require a strong visualization of the final outcome and must be stated in a clear and focused manner. Quite often both spells and prayers must be coupled with specific hand and body movements or gestures.

'Tis the 'Holiday Season' once again for those who follow the mainstream Judeo-Christian religions and it is getting hard to move without stepping on reindeer and jolly old elves. It can be a trying time for those who follow the Craft or any other belief system for that matter. There is the constant harping by the Christian folk that commercialism has overshadowed the 'Reason for the Season'!

We know what the reason for the season is. The winter solstice has come. It has been celebrated for longer than we have an historical record by practically every ancient culture on the planet. It is also a fact that Rome counted its census and collected its taxes in the spring so as to have all summer to get the money home. Cultural anthropology has shown that as the Catholic Church spread across northern Europe on the heels of the Roman Legions they adapted many ceremonies and holidays of the conquered peoples for their own in an attempt to 'Christianize' them. Even Santa Claus was the end product of a Madison Avenue advertising campaign begun in the 1880's.

All of these and more are but facts littering the historical record of our past and when confronted with such overbearing propaganda to force the belief in the birth of a 'Savior' it is tempting to strike back with such facts. It is really not worth the effort to try. Facts have an uncomfortable tendency to confuse fundamentalist Christians. All you could achieve with such efforts would be a raising of the levels of anger and negative psychic energies in the attempt.