Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard

12 Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard

most Witches and Wizards to be very positive and

fun, they really don’t present any religious concepts

at all, and should not be associated with the religion

of Wicca or Paganism. The stories do present some

of the myths about Witches and Wizards in a positive

way; but they still present the stereotypes instead of

the truth. Most people know that real Witches and

Wizards don’t really fly on broomsticks, of course.

But many Witches are concerned that impressionable

children might confuse the fantasy of Harry Potter

with real Magick and Witchcraft.

Of course, general values that true Witches and

Wizards hold are presented—Harry Potter is a good

kid who eventually wins out. But the Harry Potter

stories should not be considered as anything more than

delightful works of fiction.

Lesson 6: Being a Magikid

in the Public School

Studies: The foundation of Wizardry is rooted in

knowledge of many things, and one of the most obvi-

ous characteristics of any Wizard is an intense curi-

osity about almost everything. Being in school gives

you a great opportunity to discover and explore some

of these fields. History and the natural sciences are

especially important, as are geography and literature.

And if you can find it offered, of course world my-

thology will surely be one of your favorites!

Drama and Performance: There are several

places in the public school system where Magikids

like you can find a perfect fit. The very best is the

drama department. Long, long ago, clear back in the

Stone Age, everything happened around the camp-

fire. Making music and telling stories (and acting them

out) around the fire eventually turned into both the-

ater and ritual. And so the Theatre has always been

the heart of magick. Try out for every school play.

If you don’t get an acting part, join the stage crew.

Work on props, costumes, makeup, sets—anything

to become part of the theater. Did you ever notice,

when they roll the credits at the end of a movie, the

list of actors is fairly short, but the list of all the rest

of the crew and people it took to produce that movie

goes on and on and on? There’s a whole World there,

and it’s full of magick! In fact, that’s probably the

place where you’ll find most of the other Magikids

also....

In this Grimoire, you’ll be learning a bit of per-

formance magick (called conjury) along with all the

rest. You can put on your own little magick shows,

and create your own magickal persona (character), and

everyone will be delighted. You can even learn a string

of jokes, and do a stand-up comedy routine (my first

Apprentice and stepson, Zack, has made quite a ca-

reer out of this!). I also recommend very highly learn-

ing to juggle! Juggling is such an important wizardly

skill that many old writings do not even distinguish

between jugglers and magicians. In fact, the Magi-

cian card of the tarot is also called “The Juggler.”

Art: If you have any artistic abilities, take all the art

classes you can. Learn drawing, painting, sculpture,

woodcarving, pottery, weaving, sewing, jewelry mak-

ing. Make your own sigils, amulets, pentacles, wands,

chalices, robes, altar figures. Offer your artistic ser-

vices for school posters, playbills, drawings for the

school paper, etc. Artists are highly appreciated in the

magickal community—as well as in the theater. There

is always a demand for magazine and book illustra-

tions, jewelry, posters, T-shirts, figurines, and other

things like that. In fact, being an artist (I create jew-

elry and sculptures of Gods and Goddesses) is the

main way I support my family!

Music: Music has always been a very important part

of magick. Bardcraft was regarded as the foundation

of all Druidry, and the power of the ancient singers,

bards, and minstrels could topple tyrannical kings. If

you have any musical abilities whatsoever (which I,

regrettably, have not), then by all means work to de-

velop these. Learn to play a musical instrument (es-

pecially the guitar). Join the school band, or sing in a

chorus or choir. Learn traditional songs—especially

ballads. Write your own poetry, and set it to music.

You can find lots of wonderful inspiration from cur-

rently available tapes and CDs.

On Science and Magick: Being a Wizard means

that you will work with forces and effects that have

not, thus far, been validated by mainstream science.

That doesn’t mean that you should automatically be-

lieve in anything that sounds cool and strange, nor

does it mean that you should dismiss science as the

limited view of narrow minds. Science is a very pow-

erful systematic use of our minds to learn things. It is,

however—and this is the part that is generally not

taught or admitted in our schools—a limited set of tools.

Science works very well for studying phenom-

ena that lend themselves to experimentation. That is,

the kinds of things where you can carefully control

the conditions under which the experiment happens

and where you have access to all the information about

what happens to the thing you are studying. But sci-

ence doesn’t work very well for studying complex,

chaotic systems, or phenomena that are very rare and

only appear under unusual conditions that can’t be

created in a laboratory. The history of science is filled

with examples of real things (like meteorites, ball

lightning, continental drift, unicorns, or giant squids)

that were declared by the leaders of mainstream sci-

ence “not to exist,” because these leaders had never

seen them and couldn’t figure out an explanation for

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