This month is often seen as particularly magickal month, with Samhain and Beltane celebrated in different parts of the world respectively on October 31st. But for those of the craft, most or all of the year is holy, with individual rhythms of the seasons and correlating astrological, astronomical movements.

Many witches and magickal people do readings as the paid part of their work, and work with ritual in magick and healing as an extension of the readings and healings which may be paid or unpaid. We also do a lot of unannounced charity and volunteering in the community for people and projects where we can make the best impact, we don’t make a big song and dance about it generally, because part of working with the energy effectively is also in the ongoing exchange and our general sense of wanting to help others.

My husband and I do readings, healings and also conduct space clearings and blessings for homes, offices, warehouses and construction sites, to clear places of stuck, stagnant energy, attachments and so on, as well as to invigorate positive chi flow in a place or around the people living or working there. At times we deal with people who do not feel in possession of themselves but we do not call it exorcism, it is about bringing the person back to themselves to be fully present on all levels. We do not call ourselves witch, wizard, or so on. My family never used those words, as this was simply something we did. For my husband and I it is all an integral part of who we are, without needing to have a name for it, really.

Magick really is simply a word to describe the ability to work with the universal energy to create change by intention. If we think of it this way, the “miracle of prayer” is in and of itself a form of magick, as prayers are conducted to invoke change. Vision boards, treasure mapping, and Reiki are all forms of invoking change through focus, intention, and energy. Magick can be practised through many styles from visions, prophetic dreams, ritual, working with herbs, crystals, colours, candles, deities, animal spirits, alchemy, shapeshifting, glamoury, sigils, elements of nature, high magick, and much more. But for those with an interest in beginning magick, for your rituals to work, remember that you only get out of it what you put in, and this means disciplined practice equals strong impact.

The intention you first bring to magick often is a sign of where you draw power from. What you first use it for often is an indicator of the path your workings will take and your values in life generally. A person whose first magickal act and main driver in coming towards and taking to magick in order to hex is an entirely different energy and personality to someone else who finds magick comes to them naturally and they want to work with the energy to heal and empower. It is often said that you should wait three days before invoking a ritual. Usually this is because it is good to have a clear head, to have contemplated what you are doing, why, and how, and to properly assess where your emotions and intentions are sitting. Then, to clarify the most optimum timing, tools and other aspects before proceeding.

Society has a range of myths about witches and magickal people that persist despite numerous practitioners being open about their craft. There’s a tendency of society to want to dress magickal folk up in crushed velvet, paint our faces green, and poke fun at us as crazy, evil, or otherwise troublesome. The lucky thing for people who still do that to witches these days is that we have a sense of humour about it. I will never forget one night as a 22 year old, being hoisted up on stage at a theatre restaurant against my urgent pleas to not comply, when the company I worked for had a night out for dinner there. Under flood lights on stage, facing a fully packed audience, the actors announced my full name, called me a witch, placed a crooked plastic nose with an elasticated backing on my face, placed a “witches hat” on my head, gave me a “broom” to hold, and expected me to make “witches cackle” sounds at regular intervals of the song they sang, poking fun at witches.
The song was to the tune of the “chicken dance song,” and the company, who I worked for as one of many managers there, actually sold fried chicken. So that part of the irony actually was funny. However, I was very chicken, both of public speaking, and of anyone finding out I actually was practising magick. I had not come out of the broom closet at that time. Certainly I was not desiring to be “outed” then or in such a public way, after all, the anti-witchcraft laws hadn’t been repealed in my state yet at that time. I also didn’t want to have to deal with all the typical questions while doing my day job, like, am I “going to sweep that floor or fly away on that thing,” and other similarly intelligent examples of golden commentary. Firstly the “broom” is called a besom, and secondly, you are more likely to have witches and other magickal people sitting quietly unannounced next to you at your senior executive day job without ever knowing it than you will on your door step on Halloween night. So, despite being publicly declared, even if it was a theatre restaurant, and hating it back then, these days, I get up on a real stage of my own doing. I always feel a bit surprised and enamoured that anyone actually came to see and hear me speak, I do my talk, pick form the lovely people out of the crowd to read for, share my knowledge in the middle of it all, and at times fit in singing a jazz version of one of the many playschool songs I know because it’s fun for me to stretch my level of comfort being in front of so many people. Singing goofy songs also lifts the crowd because laughter helps spirit connect better, and it’s also either an extra special gift for them, or a punishment, depending on whether there is no sound or who the sound guy was on that day.

Unlike popular stereotypical imagery, I have never met a witch, wizard, shaman or other practitioner of magick who has a green face, a crooked warty nose, nor a hunched back. Usually they are beautiful people, inside and out, and have a special glow about them. They often are very connected to nature and spirit in a variety of ways. And while some do wear crushed velvet, I and many like me have sat on management teams in boardrooms, reported direct to the CEO, and travelled solo on company business internationally, all while dressed in a business suit, and no ugg boots in sight.

When we choose to, magickal folk look as “normal” as the next person, and when the anti- witchcraft laws in Victoria were repealed it gave me and many people like me more room to breathe on many grounds including at law. Up until that point, people could vilify witches and pagans by claiming the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act didn\\\'t apply because it only protected lawful religions. And, the unfortunate truth in society is that people fear, ridicule, and then discriminate against what they do not understand, and many in society still do not understand witches and magickal people. This has made a lot of witches and alternative people keep their traditions well cloaked in fear of missing out when applying for jobs, applying for promotions, and so on.

All witches are different and individual, in how they live, how they practise, and what they do. In my case, I am not a member of someone else’s coven, but I have many friends who are, and I network with a range of magickal people worldwide. I have at times run as many as three closed, ongoing circles at once as well as running three separate workspaces for my esoteric work and readings. Three is often a special number in magick as it is in literature. Three represents many things, such the beginning, middle, and end. The past, present, future. The triple moon. The holy trinity of the goddess – in the maiden, mother, and crone. The Empress card in the tarot which is key number three. Three is the triangle, two of them interlaced forms the “female and male”, in the “as above so below” seen in the symbolism of the hexagram, whether standard or unicursal. Three is also the trine and grand trine aspects found in astrology. Three is the threefold path, and as there is often seen as being a three fold law of return where what you send out comes back to you by three. That said, however, I have seen energy return three-fold, ten-fold, and at higher frequencies still, and then I have also seen the energy not return at all, depending on the intentions, energy, and experience of the individual practitioner, and whether they were acting within their own path in casting what they did. There are many arguments about which witch is which, but essentially, it boils down, often to being an individual and personal description, as well as what intention they bring to their practice. Many witches and magickal practitioners work in an eclectic manner, blending a range of cultural practices often handed down through their families and their shared knowledge of herbs, healing and more.
Reasons people come to magick vary, some come to it because they want an outcome that the world has otherwise not brought them, others are very natural to it and magick finds its way to them. Using magick to heal and empower yourself and others is very rewarding, and can help you feel far more connected to spirit and nature, because to truly work with the universal energy is to be in tune with the its beauty and potentials. When seeking positive change in your home, office, or life, a genuine magickal practitioner will firstly assess your rapport and comfort, then if proceeding, tell you things that are accurate to your situation, secondly, will express concern and empathy for your issues, and thirdly will charge reasonable fees for effort, time, resources, and so on in the grand scheme of things.

From my own examples, I recall a new client from Botswana called because the family was being visited every night by a presence that was freaking them all out. The caller didn’t know who else to call, and I was able to correctly tell her that when this presence came to visit them, all of the family’s dogs would all drop to the ground, and scurry away, tail between legs, whimpering as the gate sounded like it was being hit loudly. Yet there was no one out there when they looked out the windows. I said that in the morning all she would find were dog foot prints under her bedroom window and in the front yard, and I said there was a male presence with that, and to stop burying her attempts love manifestation spells where she was burying notes on paper in the front yard. The phone went silent, and when she was able to speak again, she confirmed all of what I had said. I called her visitor the “Dog Man,” to keep it simple enough for her. And, as I didn’t live anywhere on the African continent and couldn’t easily visit her, I gave her detailed instructions which she complied with…For a while. The Dog Man went away.
In later months, the Dog Man returned, and she called, frantically. I was able to correctly say that she had again started burying more love notes in her front yard. Her “Dog Man” had come back just as strongly as he had before. She received the same guidance from me about what to do, again. She did what I instructed, including stopping burying love notes in the front yard, and the Dog Man never returned. Many years later, she came for a reading in Australia, thankful for the end of the Dog Man’s visits.

For another example, just today while writing this, my husband, Thomas, who is an Irish Psychic, returned from doing a space clearing on a lady’s home. As soon as he returned, she called him again and asked why her television no longer worked…it was working before the space clearing he did on her home.

He laughed heartily, and told her to check the plug and socket at the back of the television. The energy shift he had created while there with her present had blown the power plug clean out of its socket. While on the phone, she went to the back of the television, and gasped, hey, presto! She put the plug back in the socket and on went the television. Not only did her home feel heavenly again, but she could now watch her favourite show. The hidden message also was that the television was part of the problem, as it was being left on at all hours of the day and night. It isn’t good, for a variety of reasons, both practical and magickal to sleep with the tv on all night. And, sometimes after we do clearings for you, you might be best checking your electrical equipment to save yourself the phone call.

Most of all, remember that your thoughts have power, put your thoughts and energy where you do want to go, rather than going over and over where you don’t want to be, place your focus toward the positive to move forward from the negative, because whatever and whoever you hold in your mind, whether by love, fear or loathing, is bound to manifest.