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Amongst the general population of our modern age is the notion that Witchcraft is some evil power that deals with mysterious and supernatural forces. There is the uninformed belief that occult workings are irrational and irrelevant to our times. This is a misconception. Witchcraft and magic are steeped in a very natural force that has become much diminished in this age. It is based upon the cycles of the seasons as they relate to an agrarian society.
Before the coming of the Industrial Revolution and its drive towards mechanization of every possible facet of our lives, the majority of people on this planet were directly involved in the growth and production of food. For every king in his city who had his meals produced for him were thousands of peasants who were living in the country with the cycles of the land, practicing the natural science of the earth.
Living with the growing cycles of the plants and animals gave the agrarian people specific insights into the ways life progressed and replicated. Their lives followed these patterns and they learned ways to help improve the success of the crops they grew. These various practices of sympathetic magic performed at the appropriate times of the year are the origins of the cycle of holy days still celebrated by those who follow these pagan roots.
As all the nature around them was divided into the two principles of male and female, they envisioned the power that imbued life as such and paralleled them with the activities of this natural science. As the harvest was ended and the seeds of next year's plantings were carefully stowed away they celebrated the ending of the year as the death of the 'Year King' as he inseminated the goddess with the seed of the next year's god. As they survived the long winter they looked for that longest night that heralded the beginning of the cycle that brought longer days back and celebrated the birth of their god renewed for the new year.
As the new god grew, so too did the season refresh towards the active and fecund time when the crops were placed in the fields. Upon this, the god's maturity, they once more marked this time of the season with fertility rituals to put their soul power and belief into wishing prosperity with the new crops. As the god and goddess of their life cycle mated, they too plowed and cherished the land. As their symbols of the divine earth power wed, so too did they mirror this with the wedding ceremonies between themselves. As the god grew old, they harvested the crops and once more made festive to celebrate the bountiful life that had been produced that year.
These practices were not superstition as those who have become out of touch with the cycles of the earth and her seasons proclaim. It is the natural science of living with the earth. Those who stay close to the earth power of the god and goddess are caught up in the flow of a power that is as old as the life on the planet itself. It controls the actions of those who live with it while giving them a power to control and manipulate it as well. Even those living in our modern age can access this earth power and natural magic by accepting and living within the cycles of the natural world.
Knowing and acknowledging this cycle will attune the practitioner of the Craft with this ancient source of living power. Even if your food does come to you through a grocery store, accepting and contemplating on it origins will help align your soul with these magical seasons of the year. Knowing why you perform the rites and rituals of the year's seasonal growth is an important aspect of understanding the forces you manipulate in your magical working.
As well as writing and researching on the paranormal and occult phenomena that intersect our reality, Douglas Mefford can also be found helping spread literature to the world at Bell, Book & Candle Publications or hanging out at his bungalow in Greenwoods Village.
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