Book of Shadows

A List of Magical Practices

        First, let me make this clear: Wicca and Witchcraft are not the same thing. Wicca is a religion, witchcraft is a practice. Wicca is a set of beliefs; witchcraft is something that you do and find within yourself. For example, Hinduism or Buddhism is a religion, yoga is a practice. Anyone can do yoga, you don't need to be Hindu or Buddhist to do so. You do not need to be Wiccan or any kind of Pagan to be a witch. To be a witch, all you really need is your intent and imagination.
It's your choice whether you want to make Wicca your religion or your way of life. Wicca is the easiest to research, so most people start there, but there are loads of other magical practices to choose from! Personally, I called myself Wiccan for a while and gradually moved away from it. I recommend doing some research to determine what path is right for you, but here is some very, very basic information on all of the main ones:

Asatrù/Germanic Paganism/Heathenism: Various terms referring to reconstruction of ancient Norse religion and tradition. Usually this practice is called "heathenry," and its practitioners call themselves "heathens" to distinguish themselves from other kinds of Pagans. They believe in the Aesir, Vanir, and Jotuns, the creation myth of fire and ice, the World Tree Yggdrasil, the Valkyries that whisk them away upon death, and Odin as the supreme god. They also believe in Viking virtues such as honor, courage, hospitality, discipline, self-reliance, and perseverance. The symbol of Asatrù is the valknut, the World Tree, or the Hammer of Thor. Important note: Worshipping, honoring, or otherwise working with Norse gods does not make you Asatrù. This refers to reconstruction of Germanic religion, not simply worshipping their gods.

Chaos Magic: More of an occult philosophy than an actual faith or practice, it is a complete rejection of all dogma and traditional, uptight systems, complex rituals, initiation, and the like. In Chaos Magic, beliefs are tools and can be changed on a whim to suit one's desires. Chaos Magicians take a practical, trial-and-error approach to magic. If it works, great! If it doesn't, try something else until it does! They care more about results, intuition, and gaining personal experience than doctrine and rules. It's an extremely individualistic and eclectic practice. I'm currently studying it! The symbol of Chaos Magic is the Chaostar.

Druidry: Celtic spirituality. It would be a reconstruction of Druid beliefs and practices if we actually knew anything about the ancient Druids. We don't. We know very little about ancient druids, too little to actually reconstruct any aspect of their faith. So, modern Druidry is a Celtic, primarily Welsh-based form of Paganism. Its values center around reverence for nature and the natural world. Its symbol is the Awen symbol. (Awen is a Welsh word for divine inspiration, basically the Holy Spirit.)

Enochian Magic: A system of Christian-based magic developed by John Dee and Edward Kelly in Elizabethan England. It's insanely complicated, and the most I know about it is Enochian Glyphs, an alphabet that Nox Arcana used in one of their albums. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn uses pieces of it, because Aleister Crowley was the first person to actually practice it. Because of how complex and difficult it is, I definitely don't recommend it, although it's worth mentioning that calling the Watchtowers came from this system, and that alphabet really is cool.

Hellenism/Hellenic Polytheism: A reconstruction and revival of ancient Greek religion, focused on the Twelve Olympians, legally recognized as a religion in Greece. This religion attempts to completely recreate the religion of ancient Greece (which is relatively easy to do, because of the wealth of information we have on it). They revere all the Greek gods, believe in ancient Greek ethical values, and do rituals that would be recognizable to an ancient Greek. Important note: Worshipping, honoring, or otherwise working with Greek gods does not make you a Hellenic Pagan. I work with Greek gods all the time, but I am not attempting a historically accurate reconstruction of ancient religion.