The 4 Spiritual Paths and Being Spiritually Claimed

Authenticity is something we are struggling to find in our modern world. The clear, quiet melody of the genuine is drowned out by the white noise of the superficial. We all want authenticity, but hearing it can feel impossible. 

This is especially true in regards to walking a spiritual path. 

In fact, one of the greatest concerns that comes up in my practice is what kind of spiritual and/or magical path someone should follow.

This is also a major topic for me personally, as a dyed-in-the-wool Algolian. It’s common amongst Algolians to suffer through periods of losing their faith and feeling spiritually at sea. I am no exception. Yet Mater Medusa makes authenticity non-negotiable amongst her children. We must land on it within ourselves, or we suffer grave consequences.

As a result, I have found that Algolians tend to be good guides for others who are undergoing confusion around their spiritual path. My most recent research into the Medusa myth revealed that this is not just my personal gnosis, but it is baked into the actual symbology of Medusa herself: she is the Ecstatic Witch Mother of Initiation.

In honoring this gift of guidance She bestowed upon me, from 2020 to 2022 I offered a reading designed to help answer the question: what spiritual and/or magical path should you follow? 

I ran into a problem with these readings, a dual edged blessing-curse of modernity. The chart presents many possibilities for us to pursue as a spiritual path. Normally this would be good, but right now we’re living in the age of choice-overwhelm. 

We have more choices and information available to us than ever before. Add to it the subtle mind-fuck of social media influencing how we make decisions, and we have a recipe for constant hunger.

We devour and devour and devour, never actually feeling satisfied.

Information is gorged on until we are sick, yet the motivation to actually start down a path and do the thing is missing.

Due to the manipulations of the social-temptress algorithm, we are more concerned with missing out on the next big thing, than actually developing our personal path. We are failing to actually move forward onto a path, altogether.

Gorging on information is not the same as actually doing the thing. Practice is active and requires our participation. 

To commit to active participation requires us to find our authentic spiritual desires. We must at least identify the broad strokes of what we genuinely want and need in our spiritual path. It’s necessary to shut off all the outside noise, stop comparing ourselves to other people, and look deeply at what we naturally lean towards and the experiences we’ve already had.

Your spiritual path is really about you, because only you can live your life, only you will hold certain things to be meaningful based on your lived experience and emotional landscape. No one else can replace that. 

A good spiritual path can help us look beyond the material, guide us in making more fulfilling decisions and having better boundaries and ethics, find meaning in the mundane, and have comfort when faced with uncertainty. A great spiritual path can connect us with the world around us, reveal how enchanted each moment is, foster a deep sense of gratitude and creative joy, empower us to reach our goals, and make us want to be more wholehearted stewards of our lives and the people our lives touch (both human and more-than-human). 

At the end of the day, a spiritual path is immensely personal–and not everyone will choose a spiritual path that is good or even great, because they are inundated with white noise and can’t hear the authentic whispers of their heart. They’ll long for something that feels genuine to them, but keep getting distracted by what other people are doing—trying to imitate what they long to experience.

The first way to start filtering the noise from the actual music that is calling our spiritual souls, is to know what broad categories of spiritual path are even available to us.

After all, how can you make a choice and commit to it, if you don’t even know what the choices really are? 

So, as I saw clients on the topic of their spiritual and magical path, I began to ask  myself… Why do people seek spirituality? What are the broad categories of spiritual paths?

I know younger Amaya certainly would have benefited from a broad overview of spiritual categories. It would have been super helpful in narrowing my personal focus on what path to walk, or at least help me define what it is I was experiencing. 

Hopefully this will be helpful for some of you, too. 

Gauging the Temperature of Spiritual Desire

To help parse out what it is you want/need from your spiritual path I’ve created a set of broad categories that have a little bit of overlap with one another.

When it comes to our spiritual path, we should honor our natural desires, inclinations, and experiences. It’s best to read this and grade your level of desire for each category as if you’re taking your spiritual temperature. If you have a bit of desire for each category, that is normal! But usually, one of them will stand out stronger than the others. 

It’s also normal that you will change your spiritual interests over time, because human beings are in a constant state of becoming. Inevitably, you will naturally change over time. It’s good to revisit this simple exercise whenever you start to feel unsure about your spiritual path, to see where you land. Knowing which ones are dominantly attractive to you will help you in choosing the path that is right for you. 

Please note that my definitions are based on more than a decade of researching and learning about historical and practiced mysticism, religion, magic, and witchcraft. I’ve adopted some of the categories proposed by Dion Fortune, but defined them with my own observations and research. Naturally, I lean towards an animistic worldview, and my definitions will reflect that. I also make sure to center your agency in these definitions–no spiritual path should override your internal compass or decision making (that is when we get into dangerous cult territory). 

I don’t claim to be the de facto authority on each of these, but I think I can point you in a decent direction so you can do your own seeking and come to conclusions for yourself. 

THE MYSTIC

The Mystic aspires for close relationship (some would even say union) with the Divine. Usually the Mystic works towards this goal by learning to see the divine that already exists in the mundane around them. 

Sometimes this also includes making contact with the divine through visionary experiences such as meditation, astral projection, plant journeys, etc. It’s common that serious mystics do their best to remove the trivial that can distract and/or block them from being attentive and able to achieve closeness to the divine. 

While Mystics may not aim to do so, they often develop supernatural abilities as they grow closer to the divine–especially that of healing and prophecy.

Over time, Mystics naturally begin to sync with cosmic timing, developing a sense of trust in the ineffable order of the universe. They also actively work on being open and receptive to the direct transmissions of the divine. 

Many famous Mystics have shared that the hurdles and challenges of everyday life become easier to bear–not just because the Mystic can see the divine in even these hard times, but because the beloved divine has more intimate care for the Mystic.

The Mystic path is laden with incredible blessings the longer a relationship with the divine is cultivated, as the divine cradles the Mystic in return for their devotion and seeking.

A Mystic may choose the path of theurgy, polytheism, paganism, organized religion, or decide to cultivate their closeness to the divine through less conventional or organized means.

I would argue a grand majority of people are looking for some form of the Mystic’s path–especially those who come from a past religious background. 

THE PSYCHIC

The Psychic is a receiver of subtle transmissions/messages. However, it’s important to note that they are not always necessarily a transmitter of said transmissions/messages back to the divine.

More than anything else, Psychics aim to directly receive messages and information from the more-than-human realms, in various ways. 

This category has significant overlap with all the other categories. Perhaps we all desire (or even have the latent ability) to communicate with the more-than-human.

Psychic skills can happen spontaneously, or they can be developed. Some of those ways may include reading of omens (in various ways), prophetic dreams or visions, sudden knowledge, mediumship or the ability to channel, automatic writing, scrying, the use of astrology or other divinatory tools, and much more. 

In my observation, the Mystic often has some pre-existing Psychic ability (which is often what calls them into the path of the Mystic to begin with). If they do not, it’s common that a Mystic will develop Psychic skills as a consequence of cultivating a relationship with the divine. 

Some Occultists (the next category) have some latent Psychic ability, but I’d say this is not necessarily common. Regardless of latent skills, I’ve found most Occultists work very hard to develop a Psychic skill (scrying, channeling, spirit communication, etc.) in order to achieve their goals. 

Allow me to stress that few people are born with inherent and strong Psychic abilities, but we all have the opportunity to learn and cultivate those skills to various degrees if that is our desire. Discipline and practice will often take you a lot farther in this realm than talent alone. 

The skills of the Psychic may be alluring, but remember that knowledge can also be a burden. What you see, can not be unseen. It’s also common that the Mantic Seer is either disbelieved or vilified–as the messenger is not always welcome. 

THE OCCULTIST

The Occultist’s primary aim is to study, understand, control, and direct the seen and unseen forces of the world to their will–much like a scientist. The Occultist has a fascination with manipulating and directing the world around them to the tune of their will, and wants to master the knowledge and processes to do so. 

There are primarily 2 ways the Occultist will do this. 

The first is through Magic (of which there are countless categories). Magic is much like the science of learning the subtle laws and processes of the mundane-spiritual world, in order to bend and manipulate those rules to their will. 

The second way is through Sorcery. Sorcery is the practice of contacting other-than-human spirits and engaging with them as a knowledge and/or power source for magic being performed; traditionally this is done either through compulsion and trapping of the spirit, or through bargaining with the spirit. 

In this way, you could say the Occultist is a transmitter of subtle transmissions/messages into the world. They are constantly broadcasting the designs of their will, to the world both seen and unseen, around them. 

In order to know if their actions have had the results that they seek, the Occultist will need to develop some Psychic abilities to receive subtle seen and unseen transmissions/messages/omens. 

Many Occultists do not inherently have those skills. In fact, many make the mistake of only being the transmitter through their magical acts, which can cause unpredictable ups and downs in their practice. 

The wise Occultist recognizes this, and works hard to have more direct two-way communication with the subtle and spiritual world.

Often the Occultist will go down the path of the Mystic. This usually does not start off with the intent of becoming closer to the divine, but rather to learn the secrets the Mystic path may contain with regards to the subtle laws that govern the universe, and to find the secret tools and/or processes that allow them to bypass or bend those rules. 

Though the Occultist is not required to attempt closeness with the divine, I would argue that when one approaches Magic from the seat of divine relationship it has better efficacy and positive outcomes. 

To make sure I’m emphasizing this, those on the unaugmented Occultist path are primarily concerned with studying, understanding, manipulating, controlling, and directing the seen and unseen forces of the universe to their will (much like a scientist).

THE WITCH

Lastly, we have the category of the Witch. It’s a common misconception that a Witch should be lumped in with the Occultist category, mostly due to poor modern definitions and ideas of witchcraft. Usually what you’re being taught or advertised is not what we would historically call witchcraft, but simply magic or mysticism. I’ve written pretty extensively on the topic.

Before “witch” became the common terminology, they went by many different names including cunning person, wise people, fairy doctor, and sin eaters. What they all have in common, is the process by which they gained their skills and abilities; they also were considered ambiguous figures capable of both helping and harming through supernatural means. 

Historically a person becomes a Witch after a process of Othering, usually through some sort of loss or extreme disempowerment that leads to initiation and ecstatic experience. The Othering was both social and spiritual. Ultimately the witch must be changed, so that she can more naturally engage in regular spirit flight to Otherworlds. The Witch is also marked by having a familiar spirit that they depend on for learning and empowering their witchcraft. Traditionally, meeting this familiar spirit was part of the initiatory Othering. 

Usually this was not a voluntary process, but one that happened spontaneously due to various circumstances (the precise circumstances change depending on the region you are researching). 

As a result, the Witch is somewhat of a Mystic simply through the process of becoming a Witch and having a relationship with the familiar spirit (whether it is divine or not is a matter of opinion that differs depending on who you ask). 

The Witch is also Psychic because of the skills the Witch develops to practice witchcraft. They must be able to have ecstatic out-of-body experiences, where the spirit temporarily separates from the body to visit Otherworlds (also known as spirit flight). They also have regular communication at least with their own spirit familiar, a type of Psychic relationship. 

A Witch can also be an Occultist, and learn different magical trades/skills. However, the base of witchcraft starts first with the skills and empowerment of the Witch from her spirit familiar(s). Through their spirit familiar they learn the arts of spirit communication, spirit flight, healing, harming, finding lost objects, drawing wealth or romance, and much more. 

Witches have always been ambiguous figures, capable both of helping and harming. While they were considered outsiders by their community, they were also essential members of the community who could help in a myriad of ways.

As a result, the historical Witch was neither purely good nor bad. Rather the Witch was an ambiguous figure who could and would do either good or bad, depending on the situation (Morgan Daimler very aptly calls this “situational ethics”). 

The idea of the Witch at the edge of town or the woods is pretty accurate, since most of the recorded Witches were indeed living on the margins of society.

What happens when your body and mind is fundamentally changed? What happens when you can see or sense things that others cannot in waking life? What happens if your dreams often come true, like prophecy? What happens when you have relationships with beings that no one else believes exist? What happens when you have skills that defy the rules of reality? 

Many may come to the Witch for assistance, but otherwise keep the Witch at a distance. There is an inherent dual feeling of awe and fear for those who have direct connection to the spiritual world, or unexplainable supernatural skills. It’s an almost instinctual reaction humans have to things they find different.

Wait, but why isn’t a Witch categorized as an Occultist?

As we see above, an Occultist does not have to go through a process of Othering like the Witch does, nor is it necessary for an Occultist to have a relationship with a spirit, nor was it common for Occultists (as I’ve defined them here) to go into ecstatic visionary spirit flight. 

However, this is all required for someone to be categorized as a Witch, if we’re working with historical ideas and practice of witchcraft. If you want to learn more, I’ve written a series of articles that further articulates the difference of Witchcraft from other forms of magic and occultism, that you can check out here. 

That being said, today there has been a modern marriage of what would have been elite Occultism (via educated and organized systems of sorcery and spirit conjuration), the ideas espoused by the Christian church concerning explicit pacts with spirits, and some of the original forms of Witchcraft (i.e. spirit relationships and spirit flight). 

There are modern Witchcraft systems through which you can become Othered and gain a spirit familiar. Almost everyone who has created these systems will warn there is no guarantee it will work, nor is it a pleasant process if it is genuinely undertaken. 

Suffice it to say, most people do not choose to become the Witch, but rather are called to it. It deserves to be a category of its own, as it is a particular path with an ordeal initiation. Usually that process happens more than once throughout the life of the Witch, with many different categories of spirits.

With the exception of the category of the Witch, everyone is capable of having a little of the Mystic, Psychic, and Occultist present in themselves.

It’s even possible that during your life you purposefully cultivate all 3 of these within yourself. I’d argue that anyone interested in the esoteric will develop a bit of each at different times in life. Usually one or two of them will begin to take precedence in someone’s life, becoming a lifelong winding, surprising path. 

The process of making this spectrum of spiritual definitions helped me feel more affirmed in what I already have experienced as a Witch. I do have a tendency to lean into the Mystic side of things, and I certainly have been gifted and empowered with some prophetic Psychic skills. At different points I even become interested in the science of the Occult. 

But as time goes on, I lean more and more into my existing spirit patronage (hard won from my Othering initiations) for teachings and spiritual grounding. At this point what I perform is witchcraft far more than magic (you can read about the difference here), as it is spirit directed and empowered. This is taught and requested by the spirits that give me patronage, my familiars.

Ultimately, if I really reflect on my experiences, desires, and personal tendencies, it is more like my spiritual path has claimed me, rather than me claiming it first. But to give into it has been a journey of learning to make peace with this truth–and I do that by identifying what exactly I have experienced, and stop trying to make it into something else or hoping for someone else’s experiences.

Why is this important?

It helps me sort the wheat from the chaff. We have so many options today, and it all looks attractive. I personally would rather find a spirituality that fits, not just chase whatever looks attractive or interesting. I want deep spirit relationships, I want an enchanted existence. From my own experience, this is best accomplished when I stop sampling from a buffet, and instead give my dedicated attention to one thing for at least a period of time. 

In my experience, our spiritual path is a landscape, a place, that claims us. I want to be of a place, rather than simply from a place, as Martin Shaw says: 

“To be of a place is to labor under a related indebtedness to a stretch of earth that you have not claimed but which has claimed you…. 

To be of is to hunker down as a servant to the ruminations of the specific valley, little gritty vegetable patch, or a swampy acre of abandoned field that has laid its breath on the back of your neck… 

To be of means to listen. To commit to being around. It’s participation, not as a conqueror, not in the spirit of devouring, but in the spirit of relatedness. I think it takes a great deal of practice… You learn from the grandeur of its menace as much as from the blessings. 

To be of means to be in. To have traded endless possibilities for something specific. It means that, over the slow recess of time, you become that part of the land that temporarily abides in human form. That your curvature and dialectical brogue is hewn deep, wrought tough by the diligence of your service to the earthy tangle in which you find yourself. 

To be of means to be talking, not about a place but with a place–and that’s not a relationship available indiscriminately wherever you travel, but something that may claim you once or twice in a lifetime. It means staying when you don’t feel like staying. Cracking the ice on the water butt, climbing into your mud-encrusted boots, and walking out into the freezing dark with a bale of hay. It has little to do with how you feel, because guess what? Feelings change…. 

Knowing the stories of a place is bending your ear to its neighborly gossip. Like anything worth a salt, a place can’t reveal itself in a soundbite or a glimpse; the soundscape of a skylark has to settle deep into the curl of our ear, the hundred ways an elm bends its head to the autumn. The nature of these things requires proper time; there’s no way round it, nor should there be.” 

I want to be claimed, rather than being the conqueror. I want to feel like a puzzle piece that finally fits into the picture, rather than jamming myself wherever I become curious–never quite fitting, always cramped and wondering where else I could be.

This requires fidelity. Reaching a point inside of ourselves where we can finally commit to something, rather than continuing in a freeze state where we look around at everything we don’t have but could.

Sometimes being spiritually claimed happens by accident. I certainly feel that way about Mater Medusa.

In fact, in the beginning of our relationship I resisted it with everything inside of myself. How could I not? When you read the myth or look at the prognostications for the star, it all feels rather dire. Who would want a life like that? 

It was through her pursuing me and taking me back again and again to new and radically revelatory research, that I began to understand the truth of who she was–and that she had been with me for my entire life. 

What I found and experienced was unlike anything that I had seen written or described. It wasn’t all light or easy, but it certainly was not just dark and doomed either. It was more fantastical than I expected, and more importantly, She claimed me. 

I hope you have the courage to honor your authentic spiritual desires. To be authentic in a world trying to make us addicted to shallow images and ideas, is perhaps the greatest task for our age. 

Mater Medusa will not allow me to be anything other than authentic. It’s painful to discard all the skins that I tell myself make me safe, accepted, and liked. But it is far more painful to try to fit into the shape of something I am not. 

Being claimed spiritually requires a commitment to authenticity, first. I hope you’ll shed the skins that do not belong to you so you can embrace the beautiful, spiritually adept, you that is waiting to be heard.