Thorn Mooney - The Witchs Path: Advancing Your Craft at Every Level

About the Author

Thorn Mooney is a Witch of more than twenty years and the high priestess of Foxfire, a traditional Gardnerian coven thriving in the American South. She holds graduate degrees in religious studies and English literature and has worked as a university lecturer, public school teacher, academic journal manager, tarot reader, writer, and musician. Thorn maintains a long-standing YouTube channel, has been blogging about Witchcraft and the occult for more than a decade, and is a regular at Pagan festivals throughout the United States. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. Follow her on Instagram at @thornthewitch and read more at www.thornthewitch.com.

Copyright Information

The Witchs Path: Advancing Your Craft at Every Level 2021 by Thorn Mooney.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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First e-book edition 2021

E-book ISBN: 9780738764108

Cover design by Shira Atakpu

Cover illustration by Jessica Roux / Stonesong Press, LLC

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mooney, Thorn, author.

Title: The witchs path : advancing your path at every level / Thorn

Mooney.

Description: First edition. | Woodbury, Minnesota : Llewellyn Publications,

2021. | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: This book

explores the most common themes a witch may explore to work their way

out of a rut: sacred space, devotion, ritual and magic, personal

practice, and community. Mooney offers exercises and techniques to renew

your sense of engagement and move forward spiritually Provided by

publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021019246 (print) | LCCN 2021019247 (ebook) | ISBN

9780738763774 (paperback) | ISBN 9780738764108 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Witchcraft.

Classification: LCC BF1566 .M68 2021 (print) | LCC BF1566 (ebook) | DDC

133.4/3dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021019246

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021019247

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publishers website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

For Corvus

Contents

: What Exactly Is Witchcraft?

: Sacred Space

: Devotion

: Ritual and Magic

: Personal Practice

: Study

: Community

: Challenges

Acknowledgments

Second books, it turns out, can be a lot harder than first books. Traditional Wicca came with relative ease and sort of sprung to life fully formed. This book, however, had to be pulled out in chunks, turned over, rewritten, thrown out, and then assembled into something that would serve a much larger group of seekers and practitioners. I wrote it when I was myself on a plateau, dealing with burnout and frustration. Good for generating insightnot so good for steady, consistent writing. But there were lots of people to help me along the way.

To Corvus, for phone calls and coffee and the deepest of deep Soul Asylum songs. Readers, if you see Corvus around online or at a festival, share your cat pictures and tell her shes great. None of this would happen without her.

To Matt, because, like that charming cowboy cop in Practical Magic , I was pretty sure you didnt exist. Im so thrilled every day that you do.

To Jason Mankey, for encouraging me to write books and always being an ear. And to Ari Mankey for mixing the best cocktails, plotting our shared adventures, and being the sort of high priestess we should all hope to be.

To Kelden, for being my writing buddy and letting me vent while I was in book jail. Lets go back to school and stop with all of this author nonsense.

To Christopher Penczak and all my mentors and friends with the Temple of Witchcraft, especially Julia, Tessa, Deryn, Abigail, and Tina Marie. Im so grateful to have you all in my life!

To Kithic, for being a source of great ideas and true camaraderie. Im pretty sure youre the smartest bunch of Witches, Pagans, and magicians on the internet. Im so glad to have found you. Big shout-outs to Rhi, Maewyn, and Veles, who are actual geniuses. Maewyn, Im so glad we circled back into each others lives. Rhi, you are one of the wisest people I know. Im so glad youre not a nun. Veles, were going to ambush you one day. Thank you for the years of friendship. Hugs, high fives, and late-night drinks to Spoons, Salt, Thorn, A. Llewellyn, Michael, Matt, Frank, Azaizall, Wren, and the rest of Amyranth.

To Foxfire, as always. Thank you for the years of magic and for helping me to figure all this out. Sorry it gets messy sometimes. Im so proud of you. Here, have these matches. Im so excited for whatever comes next.

And, finally, to the covenleaders and teachers whove taught me what I learned along the way and the friends whove allowed me to share their stories. Im not really that smart, everybody; Ive just surrounded myself with smart people who have a better handle on things than I do and are kind enough to let me write about them.

Introduction

I ts a full moon tonight. I gaze out my kitchen window, watching dark clouds roll across the night sky. Its too bright to see the stars. Online theyre calling it a super moon, because its closer to Earth in its orbit than usual, which makes it appear particularly large. This combined with gently swaying poplars and crickets chirruping in the summer air makes for a picturesque backdrop to any television-worthy Witchcraft ritual.

There was a time in my life, particularly toward the beginning of my practice of the Craft, when I would have planned an elaborate working to mark the occasion. The full moon is a great time to work magic, and I would have taken advantage of the opportunity. Maybe a spell for wealth or luck. Maybe I would have written a meditation and blended an appropriate incense to encourage visions. Maybe I would have cleansed and reconsecrated my altar and simply sat in silent prayer.

But not tonight. I had a long day at work and have a lot of other things on my mind. My boss is driving me nuts, Im worried that Ive misbudgeted and wont have enough money to pay the car repair bill I just received, and I still need to figure out what weekend would be good for our next coven meeting. I try to schedule two per month, but between a full-time job, birthdays, illnesses, and travel, its more like once per month. Im exhausted, and I just want to sit on my couch with a glass of wine and the remote control. That would be okay every now and then, but the truth is that Ive made a bit of a habit out of this. This isnt the first full moon Ive skipped.