Introduction To Witchcraft's Magic Path

This site explores the re-emergence of Magic Spirituality in the West after its original form, Ancient Druidry, was suppressed first by the Roman empire and then by Christianity. Magic Spirituality is the supporting ideology behind the techniques of witchcraft. Information about ancient Druidry and the latest runic text translations can be found at https://www.druidwisdom.org/

If you find this website helpful please support your local metaphysical shop. (All runic text translations by David Olmsted).

All explorations begin with a question.

Following the Magic Path

(December, 2025) Those who follow the magic path are seekers. Most feel that they don't fully fit into their existing life. They sense something was lost or that something more must exists somewhere. So they wander, looking for their undefinable home.

The most tangible benefit of following the magic path is developing emotional and spiritual awareness. You begin to see things you never saw before. Seemingly random encounters happen more often in your favor (assuming you have beneficial emotional channels open and not negative ones). Finally, you have a chance of finding your spiritual family who have the same emotional/spiritual resonances as you. A core part following the magical life is coming to know yourself and learning to be honest with yourself.

The first awakening magic crafters have is that humans are always putting out magic because we are always generating emotions which affect others for better or for worse. We are all connected to a social/spiritual network so our emotions/feelings affect others and other's emotions affect us to varying degrees. Those emotional effects will tend to circle around and come back at us. You reap what you sow. Learning to control and focus those emotions is a major part of magical training.

Consequently, the magic path is not about learning to do a ritual and expecting some immediate and obvious supernatural result. That rarely works and is simply the wrong expectation to have. Instead it is a continuous practice and discipline and the result is that things happen.

So be kind to each other.

Two ways exist to change the state of this paddle ball

The existence of two realms (material and spiritual/consciousness) suggests their differences must be something really fundamental. That deep difference must be based on the mechanism of causality, that is, the two ways in which the state of a system can be changed. For example, two ways exist to change the state of this paddle ball, that is, two ways to make it bounce farther. One way is to add more energy to it by paddling harder. The second way is the change the strength or stiffness of the rubber band, that is, to change its spring constant. Changes in the material realm are based upon energy. Very like then, changes in the conscious spiritual realm are based upon force constant changes. The two realms can then interact with each other using certain complex neural proteins in the brain which change shape. Beyond forced visions and feelings, the most common physical manifestations would then be object vibrations and changes in temperature.

The Plausibility of Magic Based Spirituality

(December, 2025) Before one can open up to experiencing magic-based spirituality one must first be convinced of its plausibility.

First, consider the existence our consciousness experiences, that non-material something which makes us different from robots. Physics has no explanation for consciousness and has no need to even postulate its existence because it does not interact directly with energy. Yet it does exist and it is at the core of human existence. Therefore it does not belong to the physical realm of energy and matter but instead must belong to a different realm which historically has been called the spiritual realm.

Second, consider why evolution would connect our biological brains to this conscious phenomena? The conscious connection must do something to benefit the survival and reproduction of a social, goal directed species like ourselves. It is not needed for intelligence as the success of artificial intelligence now shows. A possible explanation is that it is used as a form of non-verbal communication for social coordination. Such a form of communication already exists and it is called emotional propagation although it requires group members to be in visual, auditory, or olfactory contact. Any group which could coordinate themselves in the absence such social cues will survive better than those which can't. The classic example of emotional propagation is yawning which tends to propagate through social animals telling the group that its time to rest.

Third, consider "ghost stories" or spiritual experience which you may have had or which have been related to you by close friends in confidence. These may be just chance events or hallucinations but those having such memorable experiences do not think so. Are you really sure they can be explained away using normal measures of physical reality, or might they hint at something beyond the physical?

Etruscan Peruga Runestone (500 BCE) at https://www.umbriatourism.it/en/-/national-archaeological-museum-perugiaRunes are letters used in texts not having any inner vowels. This Etruscan text and letter style was the ancestor to both Latin letters and Runic letters used further north in Europe including the classical Scandinavian runes. Runic texts are all written in Druid Akkadian. They are revealing the spiritual culture of the ancient Druids.This photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto via Wikimedia Commons shows how the Peruga runestone was displayed at the National Archaeological Museum in Perugia, Italy in 2006. The letters have been inked on the original stone. Numbers added by Olmsted during translation.
Wiki site: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IMG_1092_-_Perugia_-_Museo_archeologico_-_Cippo_di_Perugia_-_secc_III-II_aC_-_7_ago_2006_-_Foto_G._Dall%27.jpg?uselang=fr

Translation at: https://www.druidwisdom.org/druid-rune-text-translations/etruscan-texts-800-490-bce/etruscan-perugia-stone-500-bce

Etruscan priestess shown with a Pentacle necklace dating to about 500 BCE. This is one of the earliest known examples of a pentacle. This was part of an exceptional group of Etruscan art illegally excavated and recently seized by the Italian police. These had not yet been laundered into the international markets. These were taken from archaeologically unexcavated sections at the Pulfina hypogeum (underground tomb complex) discovered in Città della Pieve in Umbria, Italy 2015.

Photo by Emanuele Antonio Minerva with the Italian Minister of Culture (used under fair use provision). Online at: https://cultura.gov.it/comunicato/27006

Modern Magic Spirituality's Relationship To The Past

(November 30, 2025) Modern magic based spirituality is best known by its techniques labeled as Witchcraft and Energy Work. These have mostly been reconstructed from personal experiences motivated by the memory that something like it once existed in the past (The Old Ways).

Only now with the first successful translations of runestones and ogham stones are the Old Ways being revealed. These Old Ways turn out to be very magical as many have suspected. Despite the suppression of the intervening years, today's magical spirituality can easily been seen as a continuation of the past, only updated to keep up with the changing times with our deeper understanding of nature and our different spiritual needs.

The main spiritual concerns of the past were about survival instead of about peace of mind like today. They were most worried about having enough food.

In the past nature was thought to consist of one realm with everything working according to the same rules. Today we believe we exist in two different realms, the material and the spiritual/conscious realms which work differently and which interact only in limited and at present, in unknown ways. This splitting of reality came about because because after rules of motion were established by Isaac Newton, people realized that the physical universe could run itself like a clock. The universe did not need deities or spirits to change things.

Despite these difference both modern and ancient magical paths have non-dualist worldviews, that is, reality is not a war between good and evil. This perverse idea came from Persian Zoroastrianism and spread east and west along with the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE). With this worldview everything became either inherently good or bad. If the divine realm was good then the material world was bad. If males were good then females were bad and needed to be controlled. If my empire was good then all others were evil and deserved to be conquered (empire rulers loved this ideology). No middle ground existed for uncertainty, neutrality, or transitional states.

Additionally, both modern and ancient magic paths do not lordify their deities, that is, treat them only as people who tended to become mostly male lords at a royal court. Deities could be perceived as cluster of powers as well as optionally be personified if needed. The pantheon of the Old Ways was gender balanced and it even had one hermaphrodite (or at least neutral gendered). Its pantheon was the source of many of the most popular Pagan deities today.

Lordification developed in parallel with empires hence it occurred at different times at different places. This is because as empires developed distant kings came to be seen to be as powerful and capricious as nature powers. This led to a change in the perception of nature powers as being the manifestations of lordly people. This gave rise to classical mythology as wall as to the medieval era bardic tales from Nordic and Celtic lands. These lordified deities also acquired human weaknesses and so could now be bribed and flattered (praised) by humans. That led to human sacrifices because that was the ultimate bribery. This was also when the divine feminine stated to be downgraded because most rulers were male.

The European civilization associated with the Old Ways are the Ancient Druids. Their runic and ogham texts were written in the original language of the Neolithic farmers who came out of northern Mesopotamia and spoke Akkadian. This language exists on stone or fired clay tablet ranging in date from the Minoans of 1900 BCE to the Scandinavian runestones and Codex Runicus dating to as late as 1200 CE.

This ancient writing continued to be used despite the various local spoken languages changing around them becoming various mixes of Akkadian and Indo-European. This means that Druid Akkadian was the Latin of the Pagan world and some organized religious group must have been teaching it. The only such group we know of are the Druids. The Druid civilization was also the one which built the megaliths of Europe like Stonehenge prior to the arrival of the Indo-European speakers.

Reference For Priestess With Pentacle

Italian Ministry of Culture (November 19, 2024) Archeologia, TPC: recuperati due sarcofagi e otto urne etruschi provenienti da uno scavo clandestino a Città della Pieve. Online at: https://cultura.gov.it/comunicato/27006

The 1886 "Magic Circle" by English painter John William Waterhouse depicting a witch creating her sacred space prior to doing a ritual. This is a rather popular painting among witchcraft circles.

What is the Magic Path Compared to Other Religions?

(November 30, 2025) The following list distills down the beliefs of most magic crafters which they use to distinguish their beliefs from others. This list can can also be seen as a statement of faith for Magic Based Spirituality (MBS) if it is seen as a religion.

Reality is divided into 2 realms, the material and spiritual, with each having their own purpose and powers. The spiritual realm is the realm of consciousness experiences (qualia). The two realms are able to interact in limited and, at present, undefined ways.
Communication with the spiritual realm (the Divine, the deities, or just God) is accomplished with emotions and feelings (emotion magic) and is not done with words (prayer) as if we are talking on a radio. Physical energy cannot leave the physical realm, only spiritual/conscious emotional energy can.
Authoritative knowledge for the community comes from nature, not from sacred texts or from self-appointed channelers.
Each person's model of the divine is unique to them (Perceptheism) and equally valid unless it crosses the line into community knowledge derived from nature.
We exist within a spiritual and social network in which emotional propagation takes place. What goes around usually comes around at some future time.
The overall life purpose of the magical community is to align with the powers of the divine as revealed in nature. The deep principles of nature are balance, growth, and connection (love).
After death the emotional energy of all conscious beings are reincarnated to the maximum biological complexity possible given their past lives. This emotional energy reflects lessons learned in life. Reincarnation is not dependent upon some arbitrary or cultural measure of "goodness."

Some popular witch specializations are:

Green Witch - works with green growing things. Often a herbalist.
Kitchen Witch - works with green growing things with emphasis on home and family
Sea Witch - works with oceans, lakes, rivers, waters
Cosmic Witch - works with state of planets, moon, sun
Hedge Witch - works with the mystery of darkness and the powers of spirits between realms. Almost a shaman.

Starting Green Witchcraft by Annabel Margaret

(November 30, 2025) Witchcraft is a historical term for Magic Based Spirituality which was originated by its persecutors.

The main themes of this video are (with a little added commentary by myself):

Magic crafting is a life-long path of growing awareness and self-improvement.
Everyone must find their own emotional resonances and correspondences. For example, what you read about what a crystal does may not work for you, that is only an observation of average effects. (standard training is to take a crystal and carry it with you so it is constantly in your mind. Observe what happens to you during that week.)
You don't need a lot of tools and things to start. While those aid in directing and enhancing certain feelings and emotional channels most things around you generate some sort of feeling within you. Start with natural things you find and personal memory items. Also practice various kinds of meditation and yoga to see what works.
Don't be afraid to mess up. Everyone is already messing up and doing uncontrolled witchcraft because everyone has feelings which are being projected out to others. These feelings then come back at oneself because we live in a social and spiritual network. So don't be afraid to start magic work which starts to bring emotions into awareness and under some sort of control.
Keeping desired subconscious emotional channels open (emotional conditioning) requires constant but moderate practice just like athletic conditioning. If your life is a mess you have the wrong emotional/spiritual channels open so don't keep using those.
You don't need to be a Wiccan to be a witch. While Wicca was the first organized witchcraft tradition/religion, it is just one tradition out of many. Find a supportive tradition and make it your own but be aware that not all traditions are supportive. Traditions that are dualist (reality divided into good versus evil), dogmatic, or have lordified, human only, deities will severely limit your witchcraft by blocking many emotional channels.

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