Parts of My Practice That Aren’t Wiccan

[@Lleldorynix]

I do agree people don't spend enough time defining what separates witchcraft from other occult communities/techniques. To me, witchcraft puts a lot more emphasis on spell ingredients than ceremonial magic: herbs, oils, talismans candles of specific colors, flowers, ribbons, and so forth, mostly based around creating a sympathetic link by sort of stacking all of these different correspondences on top of one another and then doing a little visualization and incantation during the whole thing. I often like to think of it as communing with the spirits within all of these specific items and drawing up the energy from them and asking them to aid you in your spell. Whereas ceremonial magic is more geared towards incantations, sigils, and perfecting your powers of concentration/visualization. So more oriented around words and images and more abstract things whereas witchcraft is more based around physical objects. You could also say that witchcraft is more telluric and lunar where as ceremonial magic is more heavenly and solar although that's not a hard-and-fast rule of course. I think a lot of people think that ceremonial magic is inherently more complicated than witchcraft, but I think that's actually not true when you look at just how many more ingredients you need to have access to to practice witchcraft, compared to the aspects of ceremonial magic that interest me the most which are Golden Dawn and chaos magic (an exception to ceremonial magic's relative simplicity would be Solomonic evocations). As for the "witchcraft as religion" debate, I think the fact that even WITHIN Wicca there are a decent amount of Wiccans that will honor, pray to and give offerings to the Goddess and God and observe all the Sabbats for many years but never actually perform any spells is enough to prove that witchcraft is a practice and not a religion, let alone the existence of ever-increasing numbers of witches that don't work with any deities at all.

[@JarredTheWyrdWorker]

So, will there be a follow-up video where you talk about the parts of your practice that you consider absolutely/essentially Wiccan? 🙃

[@tomzadvydas1758]

I’ve also gotten involved in the OTO (I joined the NYC body, Tahuti Lodge in June this year) There’s been long crossover between the Pagan/Wiccan/Thelemic communities here

[@GramaSagefeather]

This was so good. Thank you

[@vg9616]

I love your videos. You’re so down to earth and genuine. A no bull shit type of girl…which I see a lot of BS-ers online talking about witchcraft. Also, that blonde looks fire on you!!!! Your videos over the months have reshaped my view of Wicca in a positive way.

[@drawingKenaz]

Thank you so much!

[@the.madwitch]

At 6:52 you said you were looking at something that sounded like "the Lima" while learning the tarot and I'd like to know what that is. I googled it and didn't find anything that looked likely.

[@drawingKenaz]

Thelema!

[@Rosemaryluna206]

Good talk, because I started at 17, but into tarot, crystals and subjects about witches. Everything I watch is about witchcraft. But from a young age I see things, dead people.. I was raised Catholic and when I started my journey. I knew I wanted and interested in witchcraft. Now in my 40s I decided to dive back in my journey of 4 yrs. Never been a big reader, but I behave going thru my nooks like I like cheese. My interest have always been in folklore and old traditional ways. A lot of things we do traditionally as a family which is from hoodoo and wicca traditions

[@dylanmagoiofthethalasso4032]

I feel like a lot of the facets that are considered under the witchcraft umbrella is being confused with the umbrella term/ topic of the occult by a lot of people. Like you said tarot, tarot is under the occult umbrella and not the witchcraft umbrella. Have you ever used tarot in spellwork? I'm learning about Mudras at the moment, they're not a witchcraft practice but they can be incorporated into witchcraft because each one has an effect or intention plus each finger is associated with an element, which I like. I use the elemental directions of traditional witchcraft, it makes sense to me. North is air, East is fire because the sun rises in the east, South is earth because it's under our feet and West in water. "That's hella Protestant." LMAO

[@beanbaghagwag]

I check off many of the boxes as well. I've brought many things from my Catholic and Wiccan past into my practice.

[@Rosemaryluna206]

I love your vlogs, wish I knew you were London , I wouldn't stalk you. Just your presence in the uk 🇬🇧 mind blowing for me. Someone that talks sense....

[@kolorninecup7597]

Protestant invoked images of Branding Irons that cauterized into the flesh the sign of "Ownership" a sigil for the name of the Ranch that the cattle could be claimed from . . . at the {High Chaparral} on the Cimarron Strip, that star cactus though [thorn]-less was known to have an ~ alkaloid ~ it produced for its protection, and so in turn became ritualized as others in its class into practice.

[@septegram]

What you're talking about at ~10:00 is strongly derived from monotheistic mindsets, and suffuses contemporary Western culture: Our Thing Is Good And Everything Else Is Evil.

[@pomegranateandivy9833]

From my perspective, witchcraft relies on magical techniques used by various cultures and magical systems that have been around for longer than religious systems. 🙂 Religion is more structured whereas witchcraft (at least the way I understand and practice it) is more flowing. The boundaries of the witch typically are just that: the boundaries of this specific witch, what's sacred to her/him/them, what they uses in their craft etc.. It's in a sense like engaging with small children (younger than elementary school, toddler age might be the most similar), they just use what they have to do what they want to bring into this life. They love rituals. (As long as their needs are met.) Witchcraft, at least the way I practice it, feels very similar to me. And witchcraft is more physical (were you craft something you use in sympathetic magic to work your spell for example), while there is clearly overlap in Wicca in terms of using physical things, but Wicca feels more structured to me personally. I don't practice Wicca, but I like learning more about it. Generally speaking I see religion (including Wicca) being build on top of witchcraft. As it evolves in children naturally. Age 2 to 5 is a phase or stage of magical thinking in their lives, whereas religion (and ideas surrounding the world of religion which includes ideas of fascistic political systems, also black and white thinking is natural for kids till age 12) starts in elementary school or age 6 to 7. Witchcraft (and other forms of magic) is really a part of all of our lives, because 90% of brain development takes place in the first 5 years of life. Sigmund Freud also says that the formative years of life are until the child turns 5. 🙂

[@AlIguana]

yeah, Wicca (and modern Druidry) pretty much came from Golden Dawn stuff,. It's totally valid to look back to that tradition, in order to colour or deepen your Wicca. Though Wicca was explicitly designed from the get-go to be a religion in itself. Gerald Gardner and Ross Nichols knew each other, and Wicca/Druidry were born around the same time. So there's a connection there. Rumours that Crowley wrote some of the original Gardnerian rituals - you probably know if that's true better an I do lol. but Doreen Valiante was certainly influenced by Crowley and practiced Golden Dawn ritual before writing Wicca, so connection there. and way back. Nothing exists in a vacuum, it's all x to y to z. I know it's semantics, but I prefer to call herbalists, diviners etc "folk-magic" rather than witchcraft. Though that's probably because I first heard of witchcraft via Wicca, so I tend to think of witchcraft as things Wiccans do lol

[@russellstephen6998]

I could've sworn I had asked you this exact question, but I can't for the life of me find the video I asked it on. 😂 Anyway, great video! I love the idea of playing with the boundaries of what qualifies as a religion and the ways in which people can affiliate with more than one. It's fascinating to me how all of these various metaphysical traditions (tarot, astrology, herbalism, spell-casting) are being crammed under the witchcraft umbrella and the lines between them blurred. It''ll be interesting to see at what point in time they become so interwoven that something new is born.

[@drawingKenaz]

You totally did! I think this was in response to you! 💙

[@TabithaReminiec3399]

They are practices that are included in Witchcraft

[@russellstephen6998]

@@drawingKenaz thank you for that confirmation. I was worried I made the entire thing up 😂 Hope you have a great weekend and thanks for the video ❤️

[@tomzadvydas1758]

When you talk about the preoccupation of “purity of religion practice in America….”that’s hella Protestant….” It’s a direct cultural almost psychic inheritance from the Puritans …..if you remember American and English history they wanted to “purify” Protestant religions practice

[@rachellopez8357]

I love this. Quaker witch here 🙋‍♀️

[@bloodymary3008]

I think Ben Franklin was a witch too. He was in the hellfire club

[@Artemis583]

Based on books I've read, "Witchcraft" with a capital W is a religion vs. "witchcraft" is viewed as a practice, too, right? What a mindfuck to ponder over. Witchcraft can be religious but it doesn't have to be, so that distinction could be useful if everyone agreed to delineate it like that. Maybe? 🤷‍♀️ I like these kinds of videos because at the end I find myself asking "What the hell is witchcraft anyway? And what is religion, really?" I wonder how much of it has more to do with latent Protestantisms than anything else...If you ever want to do a whole fresh-take deeper discussion on those 2 questions, I'm definitely here for that. As an aside, I found witchcraft through tarot and was so excited but everything I liked/like about it turned out to not actually be witchcraft, lol. So idk if calling myself a witch would even be a good fit, so I don't use the word in reference to myself. I like being undefined, personally. At most, I identify with occultist and/or pagan.

[@drawingKenaz]

That distinction between religion and practice is very contemporary and limited, and not one I accept myself, precisely because of what you say here! It ignores the complexity of how people define and experience religion in other contexts, and echoes assumptions that are rooted in Christian hegemony. But it’s easier to print in books and put in TikTok videos, for sure. So yes to all of this! It’s a mess! 💙

[@TabithaReminiec3399]

Thorn ,Can a specific Witchcraft tradition be combined with Wicca ? Mine would be Slavic

[@gabrielleangelica1977]

It would be called eclectic Wicca...🌙

[@KikiAelita]

Are you aware that your website link posted in the description does not resolve/load? Perhaps the domain has expired?

[@drawingKenaz]

Thanks! I’ll replace it.

[@CosmicLunarSoul]

Thank you for mentioning that tarot is not witchcraft.... At least not inherently. And neither is deity work/worship, that's paganism.

[@KateAtNight]

"What techniques are witchcraft?" is a question I rip my hair out over on the regular. Especially in response to 'witchcraft is a practice'. What falls under the category of Witchcraft and does not fall under any other category? Like, what practices or techniques are explicitly witchcraft? I ponder this often.

[@drawingKenaz]

The first version of this video was waaaay too long and it’s because I went on about that, and “if witchcraft is a perspective and not a particular act, then is anything witchcraft when a witch does it.” And it was just too much for the internet. 🥲

[@JarredTheWyrdWorker]

"[I]f witchcraft is a perspective and not a particular act, then is anything witchcraft when a witch does it?" That's pretty much my take on it, to be honest. This is also why I think it's pointless to gatekeep witchcraft. What some other witch does may look nothing like my own practice, but that's okay. They're not me. As long as they get what they want out of it, I say "good for them."

[@gastronomist]

@@drawingKenaz I want to see that version of the video.

[@pomegranateandivy9833]

@@JarredTheWyrdWorker I agree with you.

[@BlackIceDragonSalome]

@@drawingKenaz Well, I would sign that in blood tbh. I had a few discussions with people and most basically tried to gatekeep the word "witch" (you have to be religious, you have to work with herbs, you have to do ritual magick and potions and spells). I was really startled by it, because I really don't think it's any of my business as what someone describes themselves and I find this form of gatekeeping more harmfull than helpful. Of course there a some traditions which have a definition because they require initiation, but otherwise? Stay respectful, acquire knowlegde and do as you want (try not to harm others though). :)

[@moistsquish]

Really the only Wiccan thin left in my practice is the wheel of the year lol everything else is a mismatch My gods are Greek My magical practice is part chaos magickand part green magick these days

[@gabrielleangelica1977]

Why can't tarot be both divination AND meditation? 🔮 I'm an Omnist; my spiritual path is a smorgasbord buffet!

[@TheNeighborhoodZenPriest]

What do you call a Wiccan who is into herbalism? A Gardenerian. I'm sorry...

[@drawingKenaz]

I trust you can see yourself out. 🫠

[@bloodymary3008]

Well yeah, you don't have to do everything wiccan

[@gastronomist]

Here’s one problem I see with witchcraft being a religion. Practicing Wicca is witchcraft, but not all witchcraft is Wiccan. The only way that can be is if Wicca is a subset of witchcraft. Therefore if witchcraft is a religion, than Wicca can’t be a religion as it would be, at best, a denomination or sect of witchcraft.

[@CosmicLunarSoul]

You should probably look at Wicca more like applying a religious lens to witchcraft.

[@gastronomist]

@@CosmicLunarSoul If witchcraft is a religion, there wouldn't be any way to look at witchcraft except with a religious lens.