Le Chemin Parcouru: My Path of Magick Studies and Practices

Paths through magick are rarely straight. They twist, fold back on themselves, open into unexpected rooms, and sometimes disappear entirely — only to reappear in another form. Over the past two decades, I’ve walked many of these paths, sometimes lightly, sometimes deeply, always listening. This article isn’t a map of what you should do. It’s a reflection on what curiosity, discernment, and context have taught me — and how magick can evolve alongside life itself.

From the very beginning, my magickal practice and my spiritual path were never separate. They moved together, guiding and reshaping one another over time. While the forms, names, and methods have changed, the underlying worldview has remained surprisingly consistent. At its core, my path has always been animistic — even omnistic — rooted in the sense that everything carries a life force, and that everything in our universe is deeply interconnected and that at least some truth can be found in all of the spiritual and religious paths in this world.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Wicca was everywhere. In me teenage years, I peeked into Gardnerian circles and explored more open Wiccan practices inspired by authors like Scott Cunningham and Starhawk, but I never stayed long in any one place. I was drawn instead to approaches that blended ritual with everyday life — a magick that could breathe with the land, the seasons, and my own intuition, without rigid hierarchy or dogma.

From there, my curiosity naturally deepened into folk magick, kitchen witchcraft, and traditional hedge practices. These paths spoke to me in ways ceremonial or “high” magick never did: through plants, thresholds, spirits, and the quiet, transformative work that happens between worlds. Over more than a decade, hedge witchcraft became a central thread in my practice, shaped by shamanic influences and a lived relationship with the unseen. Nordic shamanism, in particular, became and remains a living part of my practice — its liminal work, ancestral connections, and trance-based methods continue to guide and inform my magick today.

I was initially fascinated by different British magickal paths, and in exploring traditional witchcraft, I sought to understand which practices had survived in my home country as well. Yet, it’s the British traditions that truly stuck with me — the ones I felt close to, the ones I could integrate into daily practice. The similarities to what I already knew from my homeland made them feel familiar and alive. After all, Switzerland has a rich history shaped by Celtic, Germanic, and Roman cultures, and I could sense echoes of that ancestral heritage in the practices I was drawn to.

As my practice adapted to new contexts, I began exploring approaches that emphasized flexibility, experimentation, and creative engagement with symbols — ideas that echo principles of chaos magick. More recently, narrative magick has become a central interest for me, offering a way to shape meaning, intention, and transformation through stories and symbols in everyday life. I am not a chaos magician in the strict sense, yet these tools have helped me work with energy, narrative, and imagination in ways that are responsive to the world around me.

Along the way, I also encountered other cultures’ magicks and mystical teachings — Hoodoo, Qabbalah, Christian Mysticism, and New Age practices I was exposed to through my family. I found all of them fascinating, and each offered insight into ritual, symbolism, and ways of connecting with the unseen. Yet none of these fully resonated as a personal path for me. Rather than claiming them as my own, I chose to observe and learn with respect, curiosity, and a clear sense of cultural and historical context.

Magick, for me, has never been about rigid rules or exclusive paths. It is a conversation — with the world, with the unseen, and with oneself. Each tradition, practice, and encounter has left a mark, but none has defined the totality of my path. Today, my practice is fluid, responsive, and deeply personal, shaped by curiosity, respect, and the courage to make it my own.

So, why take you through this personal journey of magick, you might ask? Because I want to encourage you to trust your own path, follow your instincts, and stay curious. Whatever your path may be, it can be just as alive, evolving, and interconnected — waiting for you to explore it with intention and heart.