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though all of us do healing magick occasionally. In the past, the village wisewoman was often the midwife and herbalist too, and the local “cunning man” could usually mix a healing potion or set a broken bone. Today many, many Witches have healing specialties within the mainstream (doctors, nurses, medical technicians) or outside it (herbalists, reiki practitioners, crystal energy workers).
    A skill is a set of practices that almost anyone can develop, given time and instruction. An art is a set of skills with an added component of creativity. Most of what Witches do is a combination of skill and art; while anyone can learn the uses of herbs and first aid, we all know those who add something extra, the creativity and inspiration that turns an herbalist into a true healer. It is the same with divination or magick; anyone can learn the basics, but some have a natural gift for it.
    Part of becoming a Witch is discovering your aptitudes and developing your particular esoteric skills, whether as healer, weather worker, spellworker, dowser, shapeshifter, or any of dozens of other special disciplines (see chapters 10 and 12).
    The Craft As Spiritual Path
    Witchcraft as a spiritual path is often called Wicca, although not all those who follow this path call themselves Wiccan—some just call themselves Witches.
    Wicca is a religion, and like almost all faiths, it includes deities. Now, if you grew up in a family that had one god, and he was an old guy with a long white beard who was “out there” somewhere, then you’re in for a surprise.
    Here are the basic things you need to know about Wicca and Deity:
    First, Deity is immanent in Wicca. It’s not out there somewhere, above and beyond the world we live in; Deity is actively involved in the world, because it permeates all people and all things. In Wicca, God is not pure Spirit but Spirit embodied and expressed through matter—through us, among other things (and we mean all other things). Think Eywa and the Na’vi in the movie Avatar .
    Working with deity
    We’ve mentioned several times that Wiccans “work with” Deity—what’s that all about? Witches tend not to worship Deity—as in veneration and adulation—so much as honor them or partner with deities in whatever magickal working the Witch undertakes. For now, it’s enough to say that we view the deities as powerful partners in this magickal life. When we need something that is within the realm of one or more deities—for example, healing, for which Isis and Brigit are famous—we will do a ritual and invite them to join us, to lend their energies to our work. This is rather like asking your Uncle Charles, who is very good at woodworking, to join you when you decide to make a chair. On the spiritual level, we ask deities to join us as we work magick. And as we call them with love and respect, they lend their powers to the work at hand.
    A common saying in Wicca is “Thou art Goddess” or “Thou art God.” When a Witch says this, they don’t mean that you are the Creator and Source of all things, but that you are an integral part of the Creator…maybe one neuron in God’s brain, for example. You are not just created by Deity, you are part of Deity; you are sacred.
    Second, Deity can be understood as either masculine or feminine, or both—Goddess as well as God. To say that God is only male would be as wrong as saying that only daylight hours count as real, never nighttime hours. All things are part of the Divine, and that includes all sexes.
    Third, all gods and goddesses of all religions are real in the sense that they reflect some true aspect, or part of, divinity. Do you want a glimpse of the Divine? Well, you can look at Jehovah/Yahweh and read the Bible, but you can also read the stories and myths of Isis, Apollo, Diana, Changing Woman, Thor…or any of the thousands of other deities worshiped by anybody anywhen.
    No single one of these can give you a full understanding of the original Creator and