Jason Mankey - Transformative Witchcraft: The Greater Mysteries

Introduction

The Transformative Power
of Witchcraft

Since I was a child Ive been attracted to mysteries. In elementary school I was obsessed with undiscovered creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. That interest led me to other unexplained phenomena such as UFOs, ghosts, and the supernatural. Eventually I became interested in the occult, and while my peers were reading Choose Your Own Adventure books I was reading books on demons, vampires, and witches.

My interest in the unknown eventually led me to study religion in college, a subject that I found to be the biggest mystery of all. Why do some people feel called to deities like Jesus and others to the Hindu Shiva? Why do some religions thrive and others whither away? Why wasnt I experiencing anything magical or wondrous in my then Christian practice?

I often feel like a bad Witch for admitting it today, but I grew up as a Christian and practiced that faith until I was about twenty years old. I wasnt just a Sunday Christian either; I was president of my youth group and was actively involved in my church. Despite my involvement, I still felt like there was something missing in my life. Christianity simply didnt offer any mystery. It felt hollow, for lack of a better word.

At the age of twenty-one I picked up a book on Modern Witchcraft, and my life was forever changed. Within forty-eight hours of picking up that book I had added the Lady to my evening prayers and began to look at the world in a different way. Witchcraft presented me with a world full of magick and mystery, and it was undeniably alive. Rain falling from the sky wasnt just water, it was a literal gift from the gods, and the blowing wind contained messages from the Goddess and God. Jesus was quiet when I prayed to him, but the Lord and Lady were around all the time, no prayer required.

The biggest difference between Witchcraft and my previous path is that Witchcraft is transformative . Some of the rituals found in modern-day Christianity are meant to be transformative, but nearly all the mystery and wonder has been stripped from them. (Somehow Christianity has made the resurrection of Jesusthink about it for a second, its a guy coming back from the dead!boring.) Witchcraft ritual is flickering candles, chants, incense, and the promise of something awe-inspiring. Church is tired hymns or cloying worship songs, sermons about how bad we all are, and readings from a 2,000-year-old book.

Witchcrafts greatest mysteries fundamentally change the way we look at the world, and those mysteries make up the core of this book. During my time as a Witch, four different ritual experiences have turned my world upside down. The first of those mysteries was the cone of power , and though I didnt know what it was the first time I experienced it, from that point on I knew undoubtedly that magick was real. At the start of my second year as a Witch, I dedicated myself to the practice of the Craft and felt the power of the gods surround me while I did so. Several years later I was initiated into a specific Witchcraft tradition, and the way I viewed the world was never the same.

Perhaps the most life-changing event in my life was the first time I saw the Goddess descend into the body of a human being and then interact with those around her. This was probably what I dreamed about most as a Christiandirect experience with the divineand is now something I experience with great regularity as a Witch (and every time its just as awe-inspiring as it was on that first night). One of the women who drew down the moon that night would become my wife and magickal partner, and through the mystery of the Great Rite she and I have been able to become one in a spiritual and physical sense, at least for a little while.