Aphantasia and Wicca: How to embrace the Magical Without Mental Imagery
My second letter to you
Dear Magical Reader,
Pause. Think of a cherry. Does the image of a cherry appear, if so what colour is it, what is around it?
For most people an image of this cherry is appears in the minds eye in some lifelike detail or a vague image will appear. However some people cant create an image at all, they cant see the colours and details in their minds eye at all regardless of whether its a cherry or their own childs face.
Visualisation and picturing the magical in the mundane is a central aspect of Wicca, cropping up in many rituals, meditations and spells. But what if I told you that out there are 1-4% of people who are unable to do these practices, as they have a condition called aphantasia. In this letter, my aim is to spread awareness and to give advice on aphantasia. Now I am no professor or expert, however I will hopefully be able to give insight on what its like to live with this condition as I myself am part of the 1-4%. Being wiccan I always struggled with the aspect of using the minds eye and have had to find alternbatives to be able to still participate in my craft so I will show how witches with aphantasia can engage with Wicca without the use of mental imagery.
For those unfamiliar with aphantasia, I’ll briefly explain the basics to get everyone up to speed. Aphantasia is the inability to visualize images in the mind's eye. Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, used the word ‘phantasia’ when describing an almost sixth-sense relation to thought and perception. The word can be translated to the imagination, meaning adding the ‘a’ to ‘phantasia’ translates to the absence of this imagination and sixth sense as it would have been put in ancient Greek understanding.
Although the phrase had been banded around since the time of Aristotle, the condition was only named in 2015 but was discovered in the 1800s by psychologist Francis Galton. In the 1800s, the theory was uncommon and lacked scientific investigation however now we have neuroscience as a very prevalent branch of scientifc investigation, this opens up so many more doors. Aphantasia can be both congenital and causal- an example of causal is when a neurologist had a patient (known as MX) who, after undergoing surgery, is now blind in the mind's eye, which must have been quite a shock after going a whole life having that imagery available. Congenital means that someone has been mind-eye blind since birth and has known no difference their whole life (someone like me). This type of aphantasia was discovered by Zeman, with 21 people reporting the absence of imagery to ‘Discover Magazine’ at first. Still, more and more media outlets, such as the ‘New York Times’, are covering people's stories.
I myself only really became aware of my imagery deficiency after beginning my journey as a Wiccan. I always wondered, when trying out spells, why I couldn’t see what everyone else could see during their visualisations, and I assumed I simply must not be doing it right. I can even remember returning to being in a year 4 assembly and us children being asked to visualize our happy place. Immediately, I thought of Charlestown in Cornwall and amazing purple lavender fields, but then they asked us to picture ourselves in our happy place. Of course, I drew a blank on this; I couldn’t see an image of these places, let alone throw myself into that non-existent image. At first, as a practising Wiccan, it was disheartening and even a little bit heartbreaking that I would have to miss out on this key aspect of the craft, but after realising that I had aphantasia, the best I could do was to find alternatives that may work just as well.
So, is it possible to be a Wiccan without mental imagery, and what are these alternatives that I used?
The short answer is yes. The slightly longer answer is yes, but at times, it will feel so much harder to accomplish the things you want out of the craft and feel connected to energy. Instead of mental imagery, focus on the senses during rituals. If your spell is based on imagining the sea, get in the bath or dip your hands in water to feel that connection, play a seascape soundtrack on Spotify or light a sea breeze candle. Get creative and find ways to create that experience without seeing it. Remember that sight is only one component of a sensory experience. And if you still feel that you are missing out on that visual experience, find a photograph or a page in a book that gives you that desired sight.
When working with deities, I rely heavily on the statue I have on my altar and symbolism that links to that specific deity to create a visual aspect of my worship. Instead of just listening to a guided meditation, you may want to try painting, drawing or some other creative outlet to conjure up the image instead of the user’s eye. Those with aphantasia can still dream, so this can sometimes be a hopeful and good way of seeing things that are not your reality. There are so many ways that I have found to be able to adapt my craft that I could make a whole series of posts on this one topic!
Like all aspects of Wicca, you must embrace your uniqueness and adjust the craft to align with what works for you and makes you most comfortable, even though sometimes it is easy to feel like giving up when it gets tough. Spirituality is not a one-size-fits-all and most certainly does not rely on forming mental pictures in the mind, so there are so many other parts of Wicca that you can dive into if visualization really isn’t for you!
Whether this is your first time hearing of this condition or you yourself have it, please share your experiences and thoughts in the comments below to make this a safe space for Wiccans and non-Wiccans alike.
