Guide Patti: Let’s talk about your books—which are wonderful, by the way! You wrote one called Empowering Your Life With Wicca, and one of the first steps you mention taking is goal-setting. I think a lot of people don’t realize they have a choice as to what happens in their lives, and that by setting goals they are truly empowering themselves. How can people incorporate that goal-setting mindset into part of their daily life?
Sirona Knight: Thank your for you kind words about my books. My readers are my lifeblood. Empowering Your Life With Wicca explains how goal-setting is essential in both ritual and spellworking. In order for your magical works to be effective, you need to have intention. In the tradition I was taught, “expectation, desire, and merging” are the three key ingredients when doing works of magic. Having an expectation or intention is basically goal setting. The goal gives you something specific to work towards and direct your energies. The important thing is to turn your mind toward what you want, and to be able to build up the desire to attain it.
You can incorporate this whole idea of goal setting into your daily life by sitting down and determining what you want from life. The choice is yours to make. Rather than have one goal, the idea is to have many goals you want to achieve. This way when you attain one goal, you can move on to the next goal. If your goal is to buy a country home, then when you buy that home, you want to keep moving forward by having other goals, such as decorating your new home or creating a magical yard and garden. Because life has so many facets, it lends itself to multiple goal setting. These facets include relationships, career, health, home, hobbies, passions, spiritual concerns, and so much more. It’s boundless.
Once you have made your choice as to what you want by setting your goals, it’s now time to develop plans for getting your goals. This takes goals and brings them into the practical world in the sense that you have to map out the steps for making your goals become reality. Then you need to take those steps—take the actions necessary to manifest your goal. Magic is the perfect compliment to goal setting, in that it jump-starts your goals in a very powerful way. It brings the divine helping hand in. It’s vital to remember that you attract into your life the things you turn your mind toward, what you turn your magic toward, so it’s important to be careful what you wish for, what you cast spells for, and to be aware of your thoughts.
Guide Patti: In your Wiccan Spell a Night and Wiccan Spell a Day books you outline magic for literally every day of the year, starting with the first Esbat. I love this, because I’ve occasionally met people who want to “be Wiccan” but they feel like it’s something they can only do on weekends or when it’s convenient. What would be your advice to new folks—or even more established practitioners who might feel they’re in a rut—on how to live a magical life every day?
Sirona Knight: Both the Wiccan Spell a Night and Wiccan Spell a Day give readers an assortment of ways they can make their life more magical every day and night of the solar and lunar year. Both books contain rituals, potions, divination systems, magical spells, as well as sex magic techniques. In particular, sex magic is a way for you and partner to become more intimate. Rather than giving it away, sex magic is sacred and should be shared only with your lover. When used to its fullest, sex magic can be very powerful.
It’s vital to be present, to be here now, with yourself and with others, with your work and your magic. When you do this, your life is filled with a new light, new sensations, new feelings, new inspirations, and new dreams. Always be open to learning new things and meeting new people. Always follow your head, heart, and intuition when diving into spirituality, into everything. Be selective and work in rapport with the divine, however you view that — be it Oneness, Goddess, God, Energy, Chi, and so forth. Wake up every morning with the intention of making your day and night more magical.
Also take care of your health. Get outdoors and exercise regularly. Eat green — better yet, become vegetarian. You will feel and look years younger. Grow an organic garden with your family and friends, and take pleasure in eating the foods you grow yourself. Shop at your local Farmer’s Market to find organic produce, organic wines, natural products, and lots of exciting gifts you can’t find at the supermarket.
Guide Patti: Your Shapeshifter tarot deck that you created with DJ Conway has some incredibly powerful artwork by Lisa Hunt, and truly shows the connection that we, as humans, have with the animal and spirit worlds. What drew you to create a deck with a Shapeshifter focus?
Sirona Knight: The Celtic God Lugh and nature were my inspiration. I have always been, and continue to be, close to nature. I live on ten forested acres in the California foothills just below the Plumas National Forest along the Feather River, at about 2200 feet... it looks like a prelude to Yule, with the golden trees and bright red berries mixed with the verdant green.
It was on Lugnassad 1996, after walking in the woods, when I had a deep merging experience with the Celtic God Lugh. I was shown all the pictures in color for the deck, vividly and to the finest detail, for example, how many acorns on the trees and how many petals on the flowers. The experience lasted two days and nights, and I wrote down everything I could in that time. I then asked Lisa Hunt if she could illustrate my descriptions as she had done the illustrations for my books Greenfire and Moonflower. She agreed, and then we asked D.J. Conway if she wanted to do the deck with us. She agreed, and the rest is history. I will always be grateful to Lisa and D.J. for their contributions to Shapeshifter — they are both incredibly gifted and creative women. I would strongly suggest that everyone spend time in nature, and get in touch with the elements, the land, the trees, plants, and animals. It will empower and inspire you, and remind you of your “true nature.”
