Secrecy in Witchcraft
Why and When to Shut Up
People always act like witchcraft has to be some hush-hush thing and that you should be sworn to secrecy. But is that really the case? This is something I've been thinking about for a while, now.
Well, the answer- like with most things- is "it depends". As always, before reading, remember that a person's craft is extremely personal, and it's important to think about what has historically worked for you, as opposed to just blindly following instructions from other people.
- - So... What's with all these secrets? - -
I would say the TL;DR of it is that secrecy is a very easy way to have power over things. It's the go-to because it's generally effective.
Witchcraft is about giving yourself more power over a situation. You are exerting your will to influence or even overwrite reality, assuming you are doing spells for practical purposes, and not just symbolic feelgood rituals. (There is nothing wrong with the latter, for the record, but we're talking about spellcrafting for practical applications of sorcery here on my webbed site.)
Sometimes, witchcraft is about being sneaky, and having resources that the other person doesn't. If two mages with the same level of skill were trying to hex each other, then the "winner" would generally be whoever is the most clever of the two.
This is likely where the general idea that telling people about your spells "waters them down", or may otherwise cancel them out. It's also entirely possible that by telling other people your business, you may accidentally draw unwanted eyes, competition, or somehow activate other peoples' protective spirits or any other spiritual weirdos who feel the need to intervene.
- - But do I HAVE to keep secrets? - -
Not if you don't want to. You just might have to work harder/differently than other people.
However, if you do feel the urge to keep secrets, there's generally a few things that you shouldn't yap about openly:
- Specific pacts with entities and the details within, unless you've already discussed with said entity on whether or not you're allowed to talk about it.
- Extremely sensitive workings where you feel like everything has to go Just Right or else it'll fail
- Baneful work. Hexes, Curses... Only start yapping about it if it's one of those things where your intent is to make the person feel paranoid over nothing. Otherwise, they can do some kind of cleansing ritual to undo your magic themself.
- How your wards work. This one is a YMMV thing. It's a common belief that knowing how one crafts the spell makes it easier to figure out how to undo it. Take that as you will.
- What your sigils mean, assuming you're doing the standard method of hiding symbolism or words in their creation and abstracting them. Usually, the point of them is that it's something that only has meaning to you.
- - Non-Magical Reasons To Stop Yapping - -
This one is a mental game.
This is something I never see people talk about- sometimes it's good to not talk about things until after you see the results. The reason for this is actually common with artists- the more you brag about the process, the less work you're likely to do in order to achieve the full goal, because you're already getting emotional fulfillment and acknowledgment from others.
The illusion of productivity can be a huge trap in workings of any kind (magical or mundane), and this is also why it might not be a good idea to go splurge on supplies "just in case" before you even know what you want to do with them. (A lot of you reading this will probably have already done something similar with office/art supplies for other projects and know exactly what I mean.)
Of course, there are other reasons to stop talking about it as well.
If you're in an unsafe place where magic is taboo to practice, and you're worried about being kicked out by your parents/roommates, or otherwise ostracized by your community: There is absolutely no shame in keeping things secret. I guarantee the spirits understand.
The reason why people would keep magical workings a secret isn't just because they were worried about spiritual consequences. Secrecy is power. Secrecy is protection. Secrecy is safety.
- - Withholding information, but not because it's some big secret - -
Something nobody wants to hear
Sometimes people just won't tell you about something. Not because it's a "secret", but because they don't feel like explaining it. More complex and "high tier" workings will require minutes, or even hours of exposition to the untrained.
There gets to be a point where it's better to just... Not bother. Not everyone wants to be a teacher. Even people who want to be a teacher might not be good at it.
Even if you do end up explaining it, sometimes the specific method that you use will be useless to anyone else. You also shouldn't feel the need to justify how your rituals work if you don't want to.
However, this also means that you need to be OK with people telling you "no" when you ask, even if it's not due to being a closed practice.