Intention Is Everything…But Is It?

Over the past few days, I’ve been reading the usual witchy stuff on the internet and there were two topics I came across that I found very interesting. Those topics were, "There are no rules to witchcraft" and "Intention is all you need". What was even more interesting was how people were reacting to the two ‘hot topics’. Of course, you had people getting angry and screaming (in all caps) “THERE ARE NO RULES YOUR PATH IS YOUR OWN!” and others were actually having an adult conversation, and these were the comments I found interesting and sparked my own thoughts about the topics.

I’d like to remind you, this is an opinion piece, so take what resonates and leave behind what doesn’t. I’m not writing this article to upset anyone. I am writing it to challenge people to think differently or to at least be open enough to hear my musings.

On the forum part of this website, I had briefly written about, “Witchcraft has no rules”, which my opinion on, “intention is everything” is pretty much the same and that is, I disagree with both of those statements.

I consider myself an Eclectic Green Witch, and how I practice is just like this, “I take a little of this and a little of that” and make it my own. I practice in a away that makes me happy and spiritually fulfilled. However, I do believe there ARE indeed rules to witchcraft. I also believe intention is NOT everything. As with any practice, there are basic fundamentals in which you must learn in order to grow and progress.

Let me explain and remember this is my opinion and I am not in any way, shape, or form telling you this is the way it is. No…I am not gatekeeping, there are no gatekeepers.

Since, my background is health coaching, I'll use this as an example; If I explained to you, that you needed to learn to live a certain way in order to be successful at weight loss, and that you needed to eat certain things, at certain times, in a particular order, would you accuse me of gatekeeping fitness and nutrition? Probably not, you'd probably be thankful for the advice, because more than likely you'd be PAYING me for my health coaching services. 🤔

While I believe intention is an immense part of the practice, I believe you need more than just intention. And those disagreeing with that statement, I ask you this, in all seriousness, if intention is all you need, then are we to just dismiss everything there is about witchcraft? I mean if intention is ALL you need, then do we just ignore, moon phases, metaphysical properties of herbs? Do we just dismiss that crystals have metaphysical properties? That candle colors mean nothing? Days of the week mean nothing? Sigils mean nothing, the Elementals mean nothing, Deities have no importance in the practice? And I could go on, but I think you get my point.

Are we just to ‘poo-poo’ all the witches that came before us who were tortured, burned, and hanged? I mean, again, my opinion, when we say, “there are no rules” or “all you need is intention”, I honestly believe it’s disrespectful to the practice, and a punch in the gut to those who came before us.

Even though it’s unclear exactly when witches came on the history timeline, there is one early record of a witch in the Bible, in the Book of 1 Samuel, which was thought to be written between 931 B.C and 721 B.C. It tells the story of when King Saul sought the Witch of Endor to summon the dead prophet Samuel’s spirit to help him defeat the Philistine army. I mean…that’s a lot of time to just shove under the rug and turn our noses at because we want to be so right in saying, “It’s my practice, I do what I want!”

When I see people getting angry about it, I honestly believe that is ego talking. Of course, at the end of the day, it is YOUR practice, and you CAN practice how you want, BUT (always a but with me) as I said before, there are basic fundamentals that people need to learn FIRST in order to branch out and grow so that they CAN “do what they want” RESPECTFULLY.

I think that is why I get upset over this topic, because I see a lot of people claiming to be witches but have zero respect for the practice and they have zero respect for those of us who take this as a serious spiritual path. When I see people spewing venom in the comments section, I tune-out those people immediately. THOSE are the people claiming to be on a spiritual witchy path but are acting in the LEAST spiritual way.

With ALL that said, I’d like to compare Witchcraft to Health Coaching, as I said prior in this article, it's my background.

Over the years, I have developed programs to help people lose weight and eat healthier, I have also incorporated mindfulness practice into my health coaching programs. I didn’t just start health coaching people and hope for the best. I knew, I needed to study, so I wouldn’t hurt anyone or hurt myself in the process.

I studied and over time, I earned a degree. I acquired certification in personal training, first aid, and nutrition. I attended seminars, I did 1500 hours of an internship under an exercise physiologist. I learned the basic foundations for exercise and nutrition.

Now that I had the basic fundamentals of how the body worked, I could start making my health coaching programs all my own. Adding my “ own magick” to the programs, meaning, I could start customizing the programs for my clients, because I had a BASE KNOWLEDGE of how it all worked. Am I making sense? I hope so! In my head this ALL makes sense. 🤣

If I try to sum it up, I believe we CAN practice everything in our own way, but we NEED a base knowledge first.

My clients would come to me and discuss what was going on, and I’d listen to them. Listen to their concerns, their wants, needs and ultimately, their end goals. My response was never, “Well just intend to lose weight. You’ll be fine! BYE!” If that were my attitude, I’d never be a successful health coach and if intent was all it took, do you think anyone would be struggling with weight loss?

Now, intention is part of weight loss because you INTEND to lose weight. BUT you have to educate yourself on HOW to lose the weight and then create a plan and then DO the work to make it happen successfully. So, while intention is a HUGE part of the equation, there is more to it than that and I believe the same goes for witchcraft.

I hope you were able to read this without getting upset. As, I stated before, it was not my goal to upset anyone, my purpose in writing this article was to get people thinking about their own practice on a deeper level. It's an interesting couple of topics for sure!

If you DID get upset, take a moment, and ask yourself “why”. Why is this such a triggering topic for you? Dive deep to find that answer. I would also suggest trying shadow work from our challenge if you get triggered easily. There is no shame in this. Only healing.

Witchcraft is a beautiful path to journey. Take the time to learn about the history, take the time to learn about all the wonderful things it has to offer, and build your foundation with knowledge and confidence. Then and only then, once your foundation is SOLID, spread your wings and fly. Make your practice your own, and don’t steal joy from others while you are in the process of growing as well.

Until next time…Live, Love, & Magick!