One of the first thing many people do, when they start to study witchcraft, is to look into correspondences. Many of us have lists and lists of different stones, herbs, colors, times and animals that relate to different energies. This is one of the foundations of spell and ritual work, and often when you read books, they offer up these correspondences with no context.
We learn a list of words that are associated with a thing, but we never know why those things are connected. Sometimes, we can figure it out at least partially, like the fact that roses are associated with love, because roses are considered the 'traditional' romantic flower to give someone, but does anyone know why roses were put in this role?
Beyond correspondences, there are a host of other parts of practice that we just accept as face value. We are told we need to cast a circle to do spell work, that we should celebrate certain days, or that we should craft our own tools. Often, the reasons why we are expected to do these things isn't ever explored.
And the whys are SO important, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, you really shouldn't be doing a lot of stuff if you don't know why you are doing it, especially if your source isn't one you trust. It's one thing to listen to your parents when they tell you that you should do something, but picking up a book that tells you to do something is another story. We often trust books and online sources because the implication is that if it is in print or online it is valid, and yet that is completely not the case. Anyone can post stuff online, and in this day of self-published books, anyone can get their thoughts printed out. There is no vetting process for these things, and if you blindly follow the instructions of any book or internet source you come across, you are setting yourself up for trouble.
By asking the whys, we can see the roots of a practice, and the reasoning behind it. Then we can decide for ourselves if this makes sense to us. And sometimes we do need to take that leap of faith and try something to see if it will work for use, but if we have asked the right questions and found out more about why the practice is being recommended, we can see if there are any warning flags. Sometimes practices are recommended that are downright dangerous, and sometimes they are innocuous and harmless, it is only by really seeing what is being done and why that we can tell the difference.
But also, uncovering the why's behind stuff makes the information more real. If I am looking at a stone and it's list of correspondences, it can be quite hard for me to remember many of them. If, however, I do my research and try to figure out why each quality is associated with that particular stone, I start to build connections that make sense. I learn the stories behind the associations, I discover the experiences other people have had with it, and that helps me to remember what goes with what. It also makes the information more solid to me. If I just see two words linked on a page, that connection is quite weak. If I read a story explaining it, I'll remember parts of the story, or the emotions behind it, when I think about the connection, making it that much more powerful when I'm actually using that connection in my work.
Researching the whys also gives you focus in your study. At some point, we realize we have lists of correspondences, books of spells, information on rituals, and we may be already doing the work, and the question becomes what to do now. If we don't start taking some of our studies deep, we simply skim along the surface and our practice might start to feel rote. We might be doing rituals, but they actions feel hollow because they don't mean anything to us.
We can take any part of our practice deeper by starting to research the whys surrounding it. Whatever thing you are most interested in, start asking yourself questions about what you are doing...and why. Why should this herb be harvested at this time? Why is this part of the animal connected to this energy when the rest of the animal isn't? Why is this element tied to this tool? Why is this symbol on this tarot card?
The really interesting thing about exploring the whys is that you may find that sometimes you will uncover reasons that just don't work for you. White is always associated with purity, innocence and goodness. And part of my brain knows this and accepts it, but the larger part of my brain connects white with emptiness and uncertainty. It is my personal connection versus the collective connection. By knowing the whys behind the collective, I can see how they just don't work for me. I can then ask the follow up: if I don't like this connection, what does this thing mean to me? And that becomes my new focus of study, and builds a practice that is tuned to my own way of experiencing the world, making it a much more powerful connection in my personal workings.
And even though I don't connect with the collective associations with certain things, there is power in being aware of them. When I work with others, I often tap into those collective associations, and it becomes a matter of translating them into my own system, so that I can work with the group (instead of becoming a disharmonious element in the group). Or, if I know something just absolutely doesn't work for me, I can suggest an alternative, and explain why it would work to the group.
The more questions we ask, the more whys we uncover, the deeper and more full our understanding of our practice will be. We will be more informed and more able to adjust and adapt, because we know where the roots of our practice lead to. We aren't just repeating what we have been taught, we see the bigger picture, the web of connections, and we can choose our own actions with forethought and deeper meaning.
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