I am a rider on the storm
Of life, of fate, of me
Shaper of the fluid forms
What Was, What Is, Shall Be.

The spirit of Changeling has a heart full of poetry, a head full of witch-logic, a twinkle in its eye, and a thick pair of boots. In equal measure, it is both nuanced and discerning, conversational and instructive, playful and useful. It stands with an iron spine in-between worlds and extends an open hand to any-and-all who might practice the craft.

With welcomed directness and infinite kindness, Changeling helps us to deftly navigate the complexities of having a meaningful and effective praxis and shows us, in ways that are clear and immediately actionable, what it really means to do the witch-things. Changeling’s charm is spoken through the pragmatic, good-humored, and gently encouraging voice of Aidan Wachter, whose willingness to listen to his Allies and share the coherent wisdom of his lived experience benefits all magical practitioners. It is a rare treasure for a book to be an ally, and that is what Changeling is. It walks beside us on this path and teaches us how to skillfully and seamlessly weave magic into the whole fabric of our life and it does so by blessedly and unapologetically pointing us again and again to the responsibility and power held in our own hands.

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From Changeling:

I base my approaches to witchcraft and magic on the belief that humans are capable of vastly more than most of us think we are. To access these other levels of capability, we usually need a combination of things:

• The self-knowledge and self-discipline to only work in alignment with our intentions and needs.

• A strong will to step into our power and learn to shape and direct it.

• The belief that whatever we desire is possible, and that there is a path from where we are to where we need to go, even if we cannot see all of it.

• Diligent, focused practice of whatever allows us to walk that path, coupled with the ability to be relaxed about what we are doing.

• The willingness to embrace change, to become whatever is required to walk that path to its end.

The path of witchcraft as I know it is based on these things. The points above are the foundations of practical magic. They are the things that lie beneath the spells and rituals. They infuse our spells, charms, and talismans with power.

My approach to witchcraft is mainly about the practice of magic. For me, this involves working with natural energy and power, my Allies, and a specific set of skills. Herbalism, healing, and devotional deity work are also common aspects of witchcraft. I won’t be talking in depth about those aspects, although they do exist within my work. I’m simply not the best resource for becoming a magical herbalist or healer, and my devotion is highly personal.

As witchcraft is a form of magic rooted in the here-and-now and the natural world, it’s not really concerned with the rules of society or the status quo. To me, magic is a thing you know to be true in the core of your being about the nature of the world. Magic doesn’t care what you look like, your skin color, or who or what turns you on. It cares about engagement.

The witch engages with the world in ways that aren’t normal these days. Witchcraft suggests that many things that we do as a species in the name of ambition or progress may not be acceptable. In this way, it is an art of liberation, of freeing from bonds, of taking up our sovereignty and casting off shackles that seek to bind us. We might be broken, damaged, and traumatized by what has happened to us, what we have witnessed, what we have survived. But if this speaks to you, if you read these words and are called to practice, know this: you are strong, powerful, beautiful, and not at all alone.

Practical Magic

I want to touch briefly about what I mean by practical magic. Some suggest that practical magic is always explicitly and only focused on producing material world results period full-stop. I can’t entirely agree with this. Practical magic has to also be about self-development on some level, or it’s counter to the whole idea of making lasting changes from a human perspective. We are deeply controlled, driven, and limited by our internal landscapes. What we think about, what we experience, what we do, and our sense of self-identity are the primary controllers of what we believe is possible for us, good for us, and good for the greater world we inhabit.

Everything we do starts from impulses inside of us; we make no moves in the material ‘real world’ without cascades of thoughts, visions, hopes, dreams, fears, and the like, which are all deeply linked to our physiology, neurology, and psychology. If we ignore this side of ourselves, we are always flying partially blind. We can, and I believe we should, bring our magic to bear on these aspects of ourselves if we want to fly true to who and what we can be as individuals, groups, and a species. To me, these areas are some of the very deepest roots that we can use our magic to nurture and shape into healthier forms. From this healthier place, we can become more truly useful to ourselves and whatever we consider our community to be, no matter if that’s just you and the cat or the whole of the planet. Failing this, we continue the process of just ‘doing stuff’ because we can’t sit still. We’re always moving forward in a march-of-progress like meat robots. We can remain so engulfed in our anger, fear, desire, craving, sadness, loss, grief, and hopelessness that we sink. All of this leads to us setting fire to our life and then fighting to put it out before it consumes us, over and over again.

To me, any magic that can be called ‘practical’ must consider these things, and witchcraft is nothing if not practical. If we view our magical selves as a microcosm of the Field, a word I use to mean the whole of manifest and un-manifest reality, we should be able to ask: What base-level changes or shifts can change me for the better? If we ask ourselves this question and then do the hard work to hear, accept, and act on the answers, we will be far better suited to ask the same of ourselves as a species. This seems to me to be a valuable goal for our magic.