Diagnose Like a Witch

What if the most powerful spell you ever cast wasn't with an herb or a carefully timed ritual, but with your mind? Before the flame is lit and the circle is cast, a Witch should be asking: What is happening here? That question—deceptively simple—is the threshold to one of the most overlooked, yet essential, magical skills: diagnosis.

Are in the Sydney region? Join us for a group session: Sunday, 8 June at 7pm

Join us in the Witch Circle in our Meetup group. RSVP  Diagnose Like A Witch

The Missing Skill in Modern Witchcraft

In this month's Witches' Workshop focus, we're exploring what it means to Diagnose Like a Witch. To help us, we'll be using the Hermetic model of the Four Elements as a metaphysical and magical framework. We will use a diagnostic method to understand the root of a situation before you move into spellwork. Let's be honest: how often do we jump straight into magick, grabbing candles or oils, casting a circle, without checking whether we're treating the symptom or the source?

Why Diagnosis Matters

Modern witches are well-equipped with ritual knowledge and spiritual tools, but too often lack any structured methods to understand better what the problem actually is. The result? Ineffective magick. Or worse, self-sabotage and masked by "I've got this spell to fix it." But, like using a hammer for a plumbing job, it might make things worse!

Diagnosis isn't just for doctors. It's also for Witches. Especially those of us working with the body and the psyché (soul). In fact, when approached through the lens of the Elements—Air, Fire, Water, Earth—it becomes a psychospiritual art form.

Drawing on the work of Franz Bardon's Initiation into Hermetics and classical Western alchemy, we can examine and treat each issue as a dance of elemental imbalances. And once you understand the elemental roots of a problem, you gain the keys to transform it?

Elemental Diagnosis: A Witch's Alchemical Compass

Let's say a friend comes to you burned out, frustrated, and "done with everything." They're angry, restless, can't sleep, and feel they've lost control.

On the surface, sure, it's exhaustion. But energetically? What you're seeing is an excess of Fire—intensity without grounding.

Excessive Fire leads to burnout, ego flares, and overwhelm. The initial instinct might be to perform a releasing spell or meditate. Or at worst tell them to take a chill pill! But those are general solutions.

A Witch approaching it alchemically asks: How can I balance this Fire?

Your diagnosis might prescribe:

• A Water-based ritual to dissolve excess heat (e.g., a moon bath with essential oils and some frankincense)

• A visualisation or a literal cooling down in Moonlight, and attempting to draw this down into the solar plexus

• The creation of a talisman charged with Earth energy to help them anchor and set long-term stability goals

This is Witchcraft as alchemical medicine.

From Elements to Action: The Practical Map

Every Element carries diagnostic clues:

• Air: scattered thinking, anxiety, over-talking, shallow breathing

• Fire: rage, ambition, impulsivity, inflammation

• Water: emotional overwhelm, numbness, clinging, cycles

• Earth: heaviness, stagnation, fear, resistance to change

Knowing what you're working with lets you choose the correct magical tool—not just one that "feels right," but one that corresponds energetically to what is required.

Introducing the Witch's Soul Mirror Exercise

Inspired by Bardon's technique of the "black and white soul mirror," I've developed a journaling exercise that maps current problems into elemental quadrants. From there, your magical prescription becomes clear. Want to try it?

Here's a simple starting point:

• What are the emotional, behavioural, or energetic symptoms of the issue?

• Which Element do they most closely align with?

• Which Element is missing, or would serve as a balancing force?

• What ritual, tool, or process works with that balancing Element?

Remember that Fire and Water, as do Earth and Air, counteract each other.

This is the diagnositic framework you can use. And it's magick in its most intelligent and transformative form.

Your Invitation

Next week, I'll be guiding a small circle through a new workshop, Diagnose Like a Witch, where you can explore these practices in greater depth. We will use rituals, alchemical journaling, and spell crafting techniques drawn from Witchcraft, Hermetics, and Jungian psychology.

If you've ever struggled to decide which spell to cast… If you've ever poured your heart into ritual only to see little change… If you're ready to deepen your Craft from reactive to use real ritual strategy… then join me.

Because it's time to stop guessing. It's time to diagnose—like a Witch.

Upcoming in the Sydney region: Sunday, 8 June at 7pm in a group session.

Join us. RSVP Diagnose Like A Witch