Recently, teachers, authors and professional magicians, Sara Mastros, BJ Swain, Alison Chicosky, and Alexander Moore got together to discuss the topics of witchblood and witchfire. We collected questions from people online and recorded a panel discussion which covers a broad range of interesting material on magic. This conversation covers a lot of the sorts of things we would all discuss if we were hanging out late at night at an event, the sorts of things that aren’t often discussed as openly or thoroughly on public forums or in books. It was a lot of fun, we hope people enjoy it, and there is plenty of neat information, ideas, and perspectives which will likely provide something to think about regardless of your interest in the topics of witchblood or witchfire.
If that sounds like something you’d want to listen to, scroll down to the “What?” section of this page and you’ll see the questions we answered with the links to the videos of the discussion. The discussion has been broken into sections to make it easier to listen to.
If you’re curious but unsure, check out the “Why?” and “Who?” sections for more info, and then scroll back up to the “What?” section when you’re ready to dive in.
If you enjoy this, please like, follow, and share, and check out the links to our panel participants. If you don’t enjoy it? Well, that’s ok, you can be happy you got exposed to some perspectives that differ from your own, and hopefully you have more understanding of them even if it isn’t for you. Either way, thanks for checking it out!
Why?
In the last two decades, we have seen a major shift in the modern magical community. Rather than an exercise in ritual drama or back alley catharsis fixed in a materialist world, an understanding of magic is beginning to blossom where it is seen as an actual means of change in a living animist world. With that shift, more attention is being given to historical magic. We have seen the rise of the grimoires, people turning towards living spirit traditions, and a greater proliferation of forms of traditional witchcraft. Traditional witchcraft is even being joined by “folkloric witchcraft,” as people look to explore historical modalities of witchcraft without the tether of more modern constructed traditions.
We have a more diverse landscape of magical practice and viewpoints. We have a richer and broader range of resources for exploring the depth and possibility of magic. All of these elements tie to the topic of this panel discussion on witchblood or witchfire.
In terms of an animistic world, our exploration of the ideas of witchblood and witchfire are rooted in a world or relationships beyond the human interpersonal and the animate and inanimate. These concepts invite us to a perspective in which the embodied world, and the ephemeral world intertwine and interact. These concepts may seem foreign to some of the modern magical writing that was popular a few decades ago, but they are exceedingly common in traditional witchcraft and they address elements of folkloric witchcraft. These ideas and words weren’t fully absent from NeoPagan witchcraft, even if they have been less commonly highlighted there. The big way witchblood connects to newer perspectives on magic is diversity.
Some people might fear that witchblood can be used as a tool against inclusion. It’s possible for the idea to be misused that way, but the responsible tactic is to explore it rather than repress. A significant portion of the discussion around witchblood includes looking at how people can obtain this faculty if they want it but don’t have it. Another important part of discussion is how to ground the concept in reality and avoid grandiose fantasies and people trying to make themselves seem special. When discussed properly, the idea of witchblood highlights that magic is diverse. There are many ways to practice magic. There are many ways to obtain magic. There are many ways to relate to and engage with magic. They aren’t all the same. Some will be better suited to some people, while others will fit better with other people. This isn’t always just a question of personality or preference, and openly exploring the spiritual realities which shape us can help us understand these differences and how they position us to explore magic the the ways best for each of us.
Aside from allowing us to engage with the spirit world, folkloric tradition, and the diverse nature of magic, openly discussing witchblood helps people who have these experiences understand them. Lots of folks in the magical community, and many outside of it, go through life knowing they’re different and they experience things that seem weird but they don’t know how to talk about it. They don’t know where they fit. They don’t know if they’re crazy, or if this is something that can help them. Realizing that their experience is like that of many other people can be an important element, not just of representation, but of learning and self-acceptance. These conversations are important in part because they facilitate these connections, in addition to simply giving us more tools for mapping and understanding the world of magical experience.
What?
If you’re not familiar with the concept of witchblood, we do talk about what witchblood and witchfire are in the first panel video. But, if you’d like an introduction visit Broken and Reborn Aflame, which will provide you with a free class recording on the subject as well as several related blog posts.
This panel goes more deeply into the experience of witchblood and how it relates to magical experience and practice in general. On the way there, it digs deep into lots of magical discussion drawn from collective decades of magical life experience.
With approximately four and a half hours of discussion, we have broken the video down into 5 chunks to make it easier to approach.
Each part was guided by a series of questions. Most questions were submitted by people on social media, while a few were added by our panelists. In case you want an idea of what is discussed in each section, here are the questions which were included in each section.
Part 1 - Group One - Questions to orient what witchblood is
https://youtu.be/3EI2lpdDK9s
TJ asks, What does this discourse and terminology actually add to the practice of witchcraft, beyond academic distinctions?
Halo Quinn asks where the terms witchblood and witchfire originated and how it evolved, what traditions its used in and what do we mean when we use these terms?
Archie asks what it means that the witch exists in a supernatural state and how supernatural is that state?
Do you believe witchblood is specifically genetic, or are there other possible mechanisms of heredity?
Where does witchblood come from, both in terms of heredity and in terms of the beginning of modern initiatory witchcraft?
Part 2 - Group Two - Questions about the experience
https://youtu.be/M8_tW9cSUrQ
How do you feel your experience is different due to witchblood?
What was something that you thought was normal growing up and didn't realize was unusual until later?
Do all people who are born with witchblood actively practice magic? Is there a particular type of person who has witchblood, or are their specific social characteristics and leanings which connect with witchblood or witchcraft in general?
Part 3 - Group Three - Witches and other Beings
https://youtu.be/8dc3DFfIoak
Tim asks about the relationship between being born with a caul or a witch’s birth mark and the concept of witchblood?
This question somehow became the jumping off point for a wide range of topics and so the other two questions were moved to the end and this section is more amorphous.
Part 4 - Group Five - More general questions/Group Four - Witchcraft, initiation and other types of magic
https://youtu.be/QHDrNVItoGs
We deviated from our order in Part 4 and added a question about what happens if you lose your witchfire, how can you lose it, and how can you get it back.
Ian Chambers asks is we are familiar with the idea of “drawing of blood” or “drawing blood above the breath” as a means of countering witchcraft and how this idea might be an indication of blood beliefs relating witchpower to physical blood and what are thoughts are on that subject?
How does witchblood or witchfire relate to tantra and the spiritual state acquired through tanta?
Is there a difference between having it inborn, receiving it from spirits, or being initiated into it by people?
Also related, how can people acquire witchblood, is it always external or can it be accomplished through your own work? What is the transformation experience like for someone who didn’t have it and who receives or develops it?
Part 5 - Groups 3, 4, and 5 revisited
https://youtu.be/bG1BTiLycs0
King asks what relationship witchblood has with concepts like the goen or goes of goeteia and how it relates to spirit work like necromancy?
Plus some additional asking about PGM (Greek Magical Papyri)...
Archie asks about the internal locus of witchcraft, he notes that it doesn’t seem to be discussed frequently and would like more about what this means, how it works, and what the experience is like? He also asks if this relates to the idea of the body as a magical tool?
Combining questions from a few people, witchcraft and witchblood are related to descent from spiritual beings like giants, faeries, dragons and angels in various folklore, witches are also related to spiritual beings like Hekate, the Devil, and the Faery Queen, how do we understand this folklore and how do the relationships with these spiritual beings change in the context of witchblood?
Most cultures have spirit taxonomies, including various types of witches and other magical beings, there are also people who defy categorization, how does this fit into the discussion?
Who?
Our four panelists all come from backgrounds in which their lives were shaped by witchblood and the experiences which come with that concept. They are all also people who have contributed to the magical community based on years of experience and training. All have them have worked under various teachers or through varying groups and events. None of them are people who need to make a claim like this to “look special.” There are many such authors and teachers out there like those who participated in this panel. This is important. Our panelists are people that you probably know because of what they do. Their work speaks for them. None of them are working to establish themselves by making claims about who they are.
The criticism that “people make up the idea of witchblood to feel special or to impress others,” is one based on real behaviors. It’s important to acknowledge that. A serious look at the idea can go beyond those problems by including negative elements of the witchblood concept, exploring that most anyone can obtain this kind of witchfire, and by looking at people whose lives are touched by this concept but where they don’t need to define themselves by it as a means of looking special.
Hopefully, we have succeeded in all those areas.
Meet the Panelists
Sara L. Mastros is the author of "The Big Book of Magical Incense", "Orphic Hymns Grimoire", "The Sorcery of Solomon: A Guide to the 44 Planetary Pentacles of the Magician King", "Sefer HaOtot: A Hebrew Book of Seals." and “Introduction to Witchcraft: Thirteen Lessons in the Practice of Magic.” Recognized by her peers as a brilliant and original thinker, an engaging and inspiring teacher, a compelling and clever writer, and a generally decent human being, Sara spends a lot of time dreaming, thinking, enchanting, writing, and teaching about witchcraft, magic, and myth. But, her true passion is raising up an army of inspired, educated, empowered witches prepared to weave weird new ways of Being in a world that desperately needs us. Rise up!
The founder and force behind Practical Occult (www.practicaloccult.com), she strives to provide pentacles and other enchanted items drawn from a broad background of rigorously studied ancient arts, leveraging the systems of the past for practical modern use. Alison has explored the study and practice of magic for over three decades with influential teachers from multiple traditions. She has organized and participated in rituals within her local community and local traditions. In recent years, Alison has made a concentrated study of late antique magic of the Mediterranean world, relying on academic resources to build a deeper understanding and inform practical experimentation with ancient practice.
BJ Swain
BJ Swain began exploring magic as a child, in part through small lessons from his parents, and in part through the teaching of spirits. In adolescence he began to study from books, and then several teachers as he reached adulthood. Since then he has explored numerous magical systems, written several books and created a wide range of media, worked with multiple communities, and won awards for his work. While trained in formal systems of “learned” magic, much of BJ’s interest remains in the space of historical and traditional forms of magic, including those folkways taught by spirits, the land, and intuition. He has been practicing magic for over 30 years. In addition to practical work with magic, BJ focused his education on Classics but also took several courses covering magic, the paranormal, mysticism, and mythology as part of his academic studies. He was trained in a branch of the A∴A∴ and initiated into the OTO, additionally, BJ was trained in a hereditary line of witchcraft, and the Order of the Celestial Academy along with his own independent studies and explorations of the occult and Paganism.
Alexander Moore is a practicing esotericist with over two decades of active experience in several occult systems including Solomonic Magic, Conjure and other folk practices and Traditional Witchcraft. He is proud to provide coaching, mentorship and divination for occultists who are interested in taking their magic and their lives to the next level in a changing world. Alexander has been immersed in cartomancy, Solomonic goetia, and other magic under the guidance of his family since his teen years, in addition to traveling the world to study under numerous teachers of traditional folk magic practices.
THANK YOU!
Hopefully you enjoyed this. Hopefully it gave you some insights, either about witchblood/witchfire, or just about exploring magical practice in general. If you liked this and think others may enjoy it, please share the link! If you are excited to see more, like and follow, and visit the pages for our contributors! Enjoy your day and go make some magic!
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