“Of witches” summary — Janet Thompson

Introduction

You likely carry cultural baggage about witchcraft, shaped by centuries of fear and fiction that depict witches as malevolent outsiders. Janet Thompson clears away these persistent myths in Of Witches by presenting Wicca as a peaceful, earth-based religion centered on healing, personal responsibility, and harmony with nature.

The central idea is that you can harness natural energies and divine forces through structured rituals, ethical spellcasting, and seasonal celebrations without adhering to rigid dogmas.

The book guides you through foundational philosophies, practical ritual mechanics, divination tools, and the sacred calendar of the Wheel of the Year.

You will discover answers to several key questions as you read:

What are the core ethical boundaries governing modern witchcraft?
How do you cast a sacred circle and utilize ritual tools?
What methods transform psychic intent into effective magic?
How do seasonal Sabbats and lunar Esbats structure spiritual practice?

1. Introduction and Core Philosophy

Wicca is a healing, positive religion rooted in the worship of the Earth and Moon. You experience life as an interaction with the Mother rather than a struggle against a distant deity. You celebrate seasonal changes and use rituals and circles to raise and release healing power.

Wicca operates as a positive, healing religion focused on the Earth and bound by the karmic law of the Wiccan Rede.

Nature of Wicca

Pagans share an innate link with the Earth and Moon. You can connect directly with these natural forces through personal observation and respect.

The author observed many releases of power raised in a Witch's Circle directed toward healing purposes. These rituals transform focused energy into tangible positive results for individuals and communities.

The Wiccan Rede

The sole dogma of Wicca is encapsulated in the eight words of the Wiccan Rede. This principle demands absolute personal responsibility and harmlessness from you.

The Rede dictates that as long as an act harms no one, you may do as you will. Negative thoughts or deeds return threefold to the sender, functioning as a karmic balancing system that discourages evil intent.

Wiccans come to the Craft through various legitimate paths. You can identify your approach through several distinct categories:

Reincarnational Wiccans rely on memory of past lives;
Ancestral Wiccans feel roots through family and regional heritage;
self-initiated witches find personal growth through dedicated study and ritual.

The author notes her own background as an Ancestral Witch through Celtic and Hungarian land folk lineage. She also identifies as a Reincarnational Witch through regression sessions and spontaneous memories.

The true measure of a practitioner lies in personal effort, sincerity, and ethical conduct rather than in lineages, spell methods, or titles. You must view Wicca as a demanding life system rather than a casual Sunday practice. Sincere witches focus on healing and humane work instead of quibbling over credentials.

2. Ritual Practice and Tools

The magic circle and consecrated tools allow practitioners to create a sacred space and direct elemental energy.

You build the magic circle as a deliberately created, spherical space. It acts as a containment field and interdimensional portal where time is suspended. Once cast through ritual, the circle becomes a part of all worlds and attached to none. Everything matters within its circumference, and you must fill it with an atmosphere of perfect love and trust.

Because the space maintains a direct link to psychic planes, the man-made concept of time stays outside. This creates a mini jet lag effect when exiting. People always complain about the room being too hot inside the circle at the end of rituals, only to step outside and experience normal room temperature.

Build the circle by pouring all you can from your own store of energy.
Take a bath using the water element after working to use buoyancy and grounding to pull the mind back to the mundane world.

Magic Circle Mechanics

Elements and their elemental creatures represent internal human forces. You map them to specific compass directions and oversee them with Lords of the Watchtower. Trolls represent earth in the north. Salamanders represent fire in the south. Sylphs represent air in the east. Mermaids or water nymphs represent water in the west. These creatures are archetypical representations of internal forces and are governed by Lords of the Watchtower who guard the circle and help pull in needed power.

A covenstead is any dedicated working space where a solo witch or coven continually builds and disperses power. The space requires careful respect and cleansing. The covenstead acts as an energetic link to its members. When leaving a space permanently, you must perform a thorough cleansing and opening ritual to disengage the energetic link and ensure safety and peace of mind for yourself and incoming tenants.

Perform a cleansing and opening ritual when moving into a new working area.
Conduct a thorough cleansing when leaving a work area permanently.

Working Tools

Working tools in witchcraft are physical extensions of your arm. They correspond to specific elements, tarot suits, and compass directions.

The athame represents fire and swords in the south.
The pentacle represents earth and coins in the north.
The chalice represents water and cups in the west.
The wand represents air and rods in the east.

These tools are consecrated and used exclusively for their specific magical purposes. A wiccan friend found a hammered copper cauldron sitting on three rams at a junk shop. The cauldron was large and open, making it perfect for scrying. You must consecrate items and check their physical comfort before use.

Hold ritual tools in your hands to check for comfort and trust the vibrations they emit.
Take your athame to someone to have the blade dulled as a safety necessity.
Place items on the pentacle on the altar to charge and consecrate them with incredible power.

You must carefully vet groups for ethical order. Avoid predatory recruiters, financial demands, forced nudity, and black magic symbols. Genuine Wiccans do not actively recruit members or demand money, titles, deeds, securities, bonds, or mandatory blindfolded bondage before meeting others. You should stay alert for satanic traditional symbols, heavy drugs, or uncomfortably forced behavior within a group.

Avoid groups or leaders that ask for money or valuables of any kind.
Refuse demands to appear skyclad, bound, or blindfolded before meeting other members.
Never readily volunteer your home for meetings with new people until you know them well.

Wiccaning, Handfasting, and Requiem are the three main rites of passage marking a witch's life events. A Wiccaning is a blessing and protection ritual for a child born to witch parents, appointing god-parents who send a magical source of energy. A Handfasting is a witch wedding where a couple is symbolically bound at the wrist and jumps over a broom. A Requiem is a memorial service celebrating the universal life cycle, where witches wear white to acknowledge freedom and love.

Jump over the broom during a handfasting to ensure the couple starts married life with all negative influences behind them.
Hold a requiem anytime up to one full cycle of the Moon following the passing of a loved one.

3. Rituals and Spellcasting Methods

Spells utilize visualization, physical objects, cord work, and elemental representations to focus psychic intent.

Spellcasting

Visual spells utilizing photographs, wax images, or poppets enhance your focus and visualization without causing harm. Poppets are cloth dolls stuffed with herbs specific to the magical intention and are used in healing or ongoing spells, needing recharging over lunar phases.

Janet Farrar used chess pieces as a visual representation to spell for quitting smoking by moving them apart each day to reinforce the goal.

Cut square material into 7" x 7" - size of squares of material for herb packets.

Herbal packets combined with symbolic tokens can be made and hung around the home for protection. Packets are bound with knotted cords, charged on the altar, and periodically recharged by breaking up the contents every full moon cycle to release scents.

One part dill
One part corn kernels
One piece of cinnamon
One/half part basil
One part rosemary
Incorporate one part hyssop and agrimony if available
Include a small pebble or crystal as a token
Break up contents every full cycle of the Moon to release scents

Element spelling uses physical representations of earth, water, fire, and air to quickly and easily ground a magical purpose. The practitioner combines salt for earth, water, ash from burnt incense for smoke, and a burned match for fire, along with a token, inside a charged packet.

Take a small amount of salt, water, ash from previously burned incense, and a used match to your altar
Imbibe them with the elementals they represent with words of your choice
Sprinkle the water element over the other contents
Wrap the items together with a small token into a packet and charge it as a combined unit

Cord Magic

Cord work relies on colored cords and a specific number of knots to build and fix the power of a spell.

The number of knots corresponds to numerical magic, such as nine representing the All and the Goddess, while group cord work builds potent energy in a Wheel. Three is the number of the Goddess and her triple aspects.

The author uses Doreen Valiente's nine-knot incantation, ranging from by the knot of one the spell's begun to by the knot of nine the thing is mine.

By the knot of one the spell's begun
By the knot of two it cometh true
By the knot of three thus shall it be
By the knot of four 'tis strengthened more
By the knot of five so may it thrive
By the knot of six the spell we fix
By the knot of seven the stars of heaven
By the knot of eight the hand of fate
By the knot of nine the thing is mine

4. Clairvoyance and Divination

Scrying surfaces and Tarot cards provide visual focal points that allow practitioners to access psychic information and see events through their psyche.

Scrying involves gazing into darkened water or a dark-painted mirror to soothe the mind. Tarot cards integrate elements, cabala, and astrology.

Patricia Crowther learned a gypsy method of shuffling Tarot cards by turning them like a spade, dropping them like raindrops, crashing them to create wind, and fanning them in fire. The seemingly spooky side of Wicca stems from a shift in mental perspective from fear to curiosity. Practitioners view these eerie phenomena as informative mediums for knowledge. Channeling a spirit guide or interacting with the etheric realm helps you gain insight into difficult problems without disrupting karmic balance. The author cites Whitley Strieber's novel Cat Magic as a well-researched portrayal of witchcraft, and references transcripts from Jane Roberts' Seth and the Michael transcripts.

Scrying and Tarot

You can access psychic information using simple visual tools. Focus your mind gently on the surface until ordinary thoughts fade away.

Psychometry

Psychometry is the art of reading the vibratory emanations of physical objects through touch, which requires patience and sensory focus.

Practitioners can train their hands to distinguish between the temperature of an object and its subtle energetic vibrations by entering an alpha state. You move from Beta awareness into a relaxed condition where subtle impressions emerge.

Sit quietly in a semi-dark room with a candle or frozen crystal on a white cloth
Place hands on either side of the object without feeling anything and rest arms on the table
Take deep breaths, exhale completely, and breathe yourself into a relaxed and receptive Alpha state
Focus attention on the palms and imprint on your mind what they do or do not feel
Move your hands slightly closer together and note any changes in sensation

5. The Wheel of the Year and Ethics

The Wiccan calendar is marked by seasonal Sabbats and lunar Esbats, guided by the ethical framework of the Witches Rede.

The year is measured by eight Sabbats divided into four Greater and four Lesser Sabbats. Meanwhile, the twenty-eight-day lunar month provides a cycle for healing work and psychic development, with moon phases mirroring the three faces of the Goddess.

Sabbats

Samhain marks the Witches' New Year on October 31st and serves as a time to honor the dead and celebrate their brief return. Originating from Celtic feasts of the dead, this Sabbat embraces dark mysteries, fall colors, and rich seasonal vegetables.

Leave candles lit in windows to light the way for the dead.
Place a jack-o-lantern at the door.
Decorate the altar and feast table with fall colors like reds, golds, oranges, and browns, along with fall vegetables.
Use scents of apple, cinnamon, rosemary, and pine tar.
Keep the circle relatively dark during the festivities.

Yule and Imolg mark the turning point of winter, ushering in inner-working days and celebrating the first stirrings of spring. Yule brings light and joy on December 21st and 22nd, while Imolg on February 2nd focuses on inward work and gender-specific group activities for targeted needs.

For Yule, incorporate white, silver, gold, red, and blue colors, and burn holly leaves, pine, nutmeg, and clove.
For Imolg, wear darker hues like black to facilitate inward working.
For Imolg, use scents of mint, cinnamon, fennel, and coriander.
Split into gender-based groups during Imolg to build a cone of power addressing specific needs such as safe surgeries or successful job searches.

The Spring Equinox on March 21st, Beltane on April 30th, and the Summer Solstice on June 21st and 22nd celebrate the return of warmth, fertility, and the active phases of the year. These festivals incorporate seasonal scents, fresh greenery, and outdoor celebrations, while acknowledging the thinning of psychic veils.

For the Spring Equinox, use pale yellows, greens, and violet, and burn hyssop, witch hazel, and anise.
At Beltane, use scents of spring, decorate with first greenery, and set a fire in the cauldron.
For the Summer Solstice, leave offerings for faeries in the evening and burn orange, lilac, mint, and fresh wild grasses.

Lughnasadh on July 31st and the Autumn Equinox on September 21st honor the peak of the sun and give thanks for the bounties of the harvest. Celebrations center around first harvests, fresh breads, grains, and preparation for the colder months ahead.

For Lughnasadh, use yellow, green, and blue, burn thyme, basil, and dill, and plan feasts around fresh cakes and breads.
For the Autumn Equinox, decorate the altar with grain themes and harvest colors like deep gold, orange, and deep reds.
Use scents of savory, chives, and burdock, and serve harvest vegetables with popcorn at the Autumn Equinox.

Ethics

Wicca is fundamentally a path of questioning that requires you to rethink and recategorize your life experiences and preconceived notions. True learning in the Craft requires physical and emotional absorption of information through study followed by dedicated time for reflection. This reflection shifts ethics and naturally diminishes negative emotions such as anger and jealousy.

A young lawyer practicing Wicca began questioning his career, prejudices, and work, eventually dropping unethical cases like foreclosures and evictions to focus on aiding the underdog and elderly.

The Witches Rede, 'and it harm none,' eliminates the need for defensiveness when actions are thoroughly considered.

Applying the Rede takes concentration and effort at first, but eventually becomes a habit that guides all behavior and brings peace. It aligns with Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative from the 18th century regarding universal laws.

Work hard to keep the Rede at the forefront of your thoughts.
Use the motto continually until it becomes a habit.
Ensure your actions do not hurt anyone, including yourself, so you never need to be defensive.

Conclusion

Magic, faith, and worship unite within Wicca to create limitless potential for personal transformation and healing. You connect the sacred energies of the Earth with your inner spiritual power when you align your ritual practice, ethics, and daily awareness.

Live by the Wiccan Rede and harm none in your thoughts, words, and deeds.
Honor the natural world and recognize the divine presence in every living creature.
Align your personal celebrations with the seasonal turning of the Wheel of the Year.
Use focused intent and personal responsibility to direct energy rather than manipulating others.
Maintain a regular practice of meditation, divination, and self-reflection to sharpen your intuition.

10 Key Ideas

Wicca operates as a positive, healing religion focused on the Earth and bound by the karmic law ofເຊ the Wiccan Rede.
The sole dogma of Wicca is encapsulated in the eight words of the Wiccan Rede, which demands absolute personal responsibility and harmlessness.
The magic circle and consecrated tools allow practitioners to create a sacred space and direct elemental energy.
Working tools in witchcraft are physical extensions of your arm that correspond to specific elements, tarot suits, and compass directions.
Spells utilize visualization, physical objects, cord work, and elemental representations to focus psychic intent.
Cord work relies on colored cords and a specific number of knots to build and fix the power of a spell.
Scrying surfaces and Tarot cards provide visual focal points that allow practitioners to access psychic information and see events through their psyche.
Psychometry is the art of reading the vibratory emanations of physical objects through touch, which requires patience and sensory focus.
The Wiccan calendar is marked by seasonal Sabbats and lunar Esbats, guided by the ethical framework of the Witches Rede.
The Witches Rede, 'and it harm none,' eliminates the need for defensiveness when actions are thoroughly considered.

Book summary “Of witches”: summary

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