Marion Weinstein - Personal Magic: A Modern-Day Book of Shadows for Positive Witches

This edition first published in 2021 by Weiser Books, an imprint of

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

With offices at:

65 Parker Street, Suite 7

Newburyport, MA 01950

www.redwheelweiser.com

www.redwheelweiser.com/newsletter

Copyright 2003, 2021 by Marion Weinstein

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages. Previously published in 2003 as Earth Magic by New Page Books, ISBN: 978-1-56414-638-0.

ISBN: 978-1-57863-719-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request

Cover design by Kasandra Cook

Interior by Deborah Dutton

Typeset in Adobe Jenson Pro, Incognito, and Weiss Std

Printed in the United States of America

IBI

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Book Blessing

By the One Power over all,

By Diana, Hecate, Selene, Kernunnos, and Pan,

And all my other Deities

Working for and through this Book of Shadows,

This book reaches only those for whom it is intended,

This work can never be misused;

And for those who use it rightly,

For the Good of All,

And according to Free Will,

May all the Positive Magic and Positive Witchcraft of the Universe

Bring joy and power for good

That cannot be measured.

And so mote it be.

Dedication

For my mother, Sylvia Under Weinstein, who taught me about magic and always corrected my spelling.

Once we met in secret, in the dark

And whispered our words into the wind.

Now the work is free once more

And open to those who seek it.

For this we give thanks.

Here is our secret:

The Power comes from within

Now

Always

Forever

Marion Weinstein

One draws from the well

Without hindrance.

It is dependable.

Supreme good fortune.

The I Ching
Bollingen Edition
Hexagram 48
Six at the top.

A Book of Shadows is not a book of laws or commandments. Everyone's shadows are different; this is the way one Witch works, and some others with her. If you wish to use any of these ideas and techniques in your own work, you are welcome to them. They are not secret anymore.

Marion, Marion! Get in herefast! My mother was calling. There's a man on television with Merv Griffin who says he's a Witch.

I raced into her room. There, on my parents new color television, sitting on the couch next to Merv, was a crisp Englishman, with an impeccable accent. It was Raymond Buckland, newly arrived from England.

... no, we do not worship the devil, he was saying.

But some Witches worship the devil, don't they? asked Merv.

Those, Dr. Buckland replied tersely, are Satanists.

It was a Pagan epiphany for me. What was the year? Early 60s, I'm pretty sure. Long before I was on radio, when I was just out of college or still in it, still trying to graduate that last painful senior year, still trying to pass one science class. I had written and produced the Junior Show the year before: The Girl From Salem. It was a musical, in the grand tradition of ersatz college musicals of the 30s by Rodgers and Hart, and George and Ira Gershwin, shows like The Boys From Syracuse. It was about a Witch who goes to college and tries to fit injust like me.

By that time, I knew I was a Witch, but I wasn't exactly sure what it meant. I was concerned about the old devil connection.

This was all cleared up for me by Raymond and Merv, and all the millions of viewers watching right after the 11 o'clock news and just before sleep.

Years later at a Goddess Festival, Dr. Buckland and I met and autographed our books for each other.

Years later still, my mother, widowed and in her 80s, joined my coven.

I first wrote my Book of Shadows in 1979. It was much shorter then, and deliberately intended for a small audience. In contrast to my other writings about magic, I wanted my personal Witchcraft to remain somewhat secretfor other Witches only. A member of my coven teased me for conducting my own private Witch hunt, in this case not to persecute Witches, but to isolate them as book customers. The original subtitle of this book was, A Dianic Book of Shadows. Some confusion arose when Dianic took on the popular meaning of only Goddess-worshipping, women Witches. This totally surprised me because Dianic meant that my primary alignment was with the Goddess Diana. It still is. But this was not a serious problem. In 1986, responding to demand, I begrudgingly allowed the book a wider distribution. At that time I added more material, but all of the original information remains in Personal Magic today, unchanged.

In the outside world, however, a great deal has changed. Witchcraft has grown into a viable, recognized religion (well, maybe not yet everywhere, but in more places every day).

Admittedly, our religion is still misunderstood, but its reputation is clearing daily. Wiccan groups meet openly on campuses, and protesters rally in outraged response to inaccurate Hollywood movies depicting Witches as evil. Witches regularly surf and meet online where numerous Witchcraft, Goddess-worshiping, and Neo-Pagan groups have websites.

Popular New Age techniques, such as affirmation and visualization, strongly resemble traditional Witchcraft work. Modern channellers contact their ancient guides with virtually the same techniques as Craft spirit contact. The Goddess is alive and well in the presence of woman ministers and rabbis in more traditional religions, even though the people involved may not directly know about Heryet. The emerging public understanding about women's rights, children's rights, and animals rights expresses Witchcraft beliefs of the centuries. Every time someone recycles, Paganism and other Nature religionswhose primary tenet is reverence for the Earthtake a giant step forward.

In the years since I first wrote this book, I, too, have made changes in my Witchcraft work. I have added more Deities to my personal pantheon. I now encourage others to do the same. Research led me to surprising but deeply relevant areas of family systems psychology and quantum physics. Everything is linked. When I perform my comedy, far more people understand it; when I give lectures and public appearances, far fewer people ask me if I worship the devil or turn people into frogs.

The religion of Witchcraft itself has been changing. First of all, there are more Witches, as more and bigger Pagan conferences and festivals demonstrate. Also, more women are becoming Witches. Not too long ago, politically focused feminists discarded all religions, viewing them as the opiate of the masses. Now they are becoming increasingly aware of the personal empowerment to be found in Goddess spirituality, specifically in the Wiccan tradition. More gay men are turning to Witchcraft, finding deep resonance in Wiccan beliefs and spiritual acceptance in a religion that welcomes all and judges none. And more heterosexual men are also becoming Witches, embracing the male ideal of nurturing husband, consort, father, and child of Naturerather than the culturally limiting role of macho super-Deity personified.