My 2024 Magickal Plans

Hey y’all! It’s been a hot minute since my last blog post, so I thought I would jump back in with a post about what I’m working on this year. We’re almost at the 5th month of 2024 already (good grief, where does the time go???) and a lot has happened so far.

Temple of Witchcraft Training

The first big shift for 2024 has been the start of Witchcraft 4 - a yearlong course of high magick with the Temple of Witchcraft. I start training with the Temple of Witchcraft (founded by Christopher Penczak, Steve Kenson, and Adam Startwell) in the fall of 2019 with their Witchcraft 1 course. I initiated into the Tradition in August of 2020 and have continued taking courses in their Temple Mystery School since then.

As I mentioned, this March I started Witchcraft 4, which will continue through to March of next year. Each course lasts for approximately a year and a day, with a six-month break usually included between the end of one course and the start of another.

From 1999 through 2019, I had been a primarily solo practitioner. There were times over those 20 years that I had attempted formal training with other traditions (either local to San Diego, where I used to live, or online). To say that I had a mix-bag of experiences would be an understatement! Local groups were rife with drama, which made wanting to study with them long-term a bit difficult. I had no interest to interject myself in local witchcraft politics, especially when I had considered myself new to the scene in the early 2000’s/aughts.

I spent those two decades mostly taking individual classes around town, trying out online spaces, and experimenting largely on my own. I don’t think I lasted training with a single group for longer than 6-months. It was a frustrating time, but I was also having and raising babies at the time and not having to stick to a rigid training schedule worked out well for my life. I could fit studying and learning into my own personal family and work schedule.

As my kiddos got older, though, I craved community (which I wasn’t really finding back in San Diego). I had read through the first 3 books of Christopher Penczak’s “Temple” series: The Inner Temple of Witchcraft, the Outer Temple of Witchcraft, and the Temple of Shamanic Witchcraft - however, I hadn’t really worked through those books. They’re incredibly dense and meant to be worked through over the course of a year. In early 2019, I started looking for more information on these books and began looking through the Temple of Witchcraft website. They had an online version of their Mystery School - huzzah! I started looking at what it would take to enroll in the online school.

At this point, I hadn’t made any decisions yet. I knew I wanted formal study and community, and the Temple looked to be a great place to find both. As I was mulling things over, I resolved myself to enjoying the last few months of the last pregnancy I would ever have. There would be plenty of time afterward to decide what I really wanted to do. Then, 2 weeks after delivering that last “belly buddy,” my family and I were in a horrific car accident.

Everyone was largely okay! I want to make that clear - all passengers in all three vehicles are more or less doing just fine today. In fact, I was probably the person injured the MOST in the accident. I had fractured at least 10 bones on the right side of my body and was in the hospital for nearly a week while I learned to use a walker to get around (I had broken my right foot and ankle). In those first three months of healing, I came to realize that if I wanted to do something, now was the best time to do it. None of us are promised tomorrow, and if I didn’t like the first course, I could always just stop there. So, I signed up for Witchcraft 1 which would start on September 1st.

In the time since that first course, I have taken (and graduated from) both Witchcraft 2 and Witchcraft 3. My plan is to finish and graduate from Witchcraft 4, and then carry on through to Witchcraft 5 (which is a ministerial course for those wishing to become High Priests/Priestesses within the Temple Tradition).

I had always thought that formal training would be too restrictive for me and what I’ve found in formal training with the Temple is that my practice as EXPANDED exponentially. I’ve been exposed to so many different paradigms and systems and experiences - it’s been a magickal cornucopia, folks. Through the Temple’s Mystery School, I’ve been able to expose myself to so much more than I had been able to find on my own. I have so many more resources now than I did before 2019, as well as connections. People come and go with the Temple in the flow of their own lives, and it’s been fantastic meeting folks from so many backgrounds in magick and witchcraft. My hope is that this will continue through the next couple years, while I figure out what to do after my formal training ends.

Re-Structuring the Wheel of the Year

One personal project I have is essentially re-working my own personal Wheel of the Year. For those not familiar, the Wheel of the Year refers to a set of 8 holidays that follow the seasons - it follows the 4 seasonal Equinoxes and Solstices, plus 4 “cross-quarter” holidays sometimes celebrated in the UK (there’s heavy debate around these holidays and their historical uses).

Following the largely Wiccan version of the Wheel of the Year for many moons now, I’ve gotten a bit out of alignment with it over time. Not seeing seasons turn the way one would expect in the Northern Hemisphere where I lived (San Diego), I often felt like the Wheel was too disjointed for me. I continued to honor those Sabbats, but overtime my own rituals and holy days have emerged.

This year, I’m going through all holidays, feast days, and holy days that mean something personal to me in order to craft an individual Wheel that I feel deeply connected to. Why do something that feels out of step with my life? The turning of the seasons is more pronounced here in mid-Colorado, but I still feel out of step with that traditional Wheel. I want a turning of the year to meet me and my family where we’re at, so I’m working on getting that ironed out in 2024 (keep a look out for a future post on what I come up with!).

Sustainable Witchcraft

Moving to Colorado two years ago really highlighted how much STUFF my family and I have. The United States is a country that pushes consumer excess and buying (and hoarding) way more than any one person could possibly need. This is antithetical to my own personal world view - that humans are meant to be caretakers and stewards of the Earth. Heavy consumerism is not only detrimental to living our lives, it is incredibly harmful to the planet and its habitats.

For 2024, I’m working on finding ways to re-use more mundane objects in my witchcraft, reduce what I do have to use (consumables), and find ways to stretch what I have to its limits. If it CAN be reused, I’m going to find a way to reuse it.

I also want to focus on magick that needs nothing more than my own body to create - such as inner/astral temple work, meditation, shamanic journeying, and more. If I can draw down, shape, and direct the energy of a working using just myself, then that’s what I’ll do. Bring on all the mantras, spoken charms, chants, and affirmations!

I have plans for making video content on this journey of sustainability in witchcraft, so keep an eye on my YouTube channel for future content.

And that’s what I have mapped out for 2024, folks! What are your plans for this year? What are you working towards in your own practice? I would love to hear what you’re working on.

Until the next time, have a blessed week, lovelies,

- Cory Gunn