This comes from the book Witchcraft an Alternative Path by Ann Moura copyright 2003, pages 114-116.

The Psychology of Magic

“Because time is fluid in Witchcraft, seen as a spiral that may be accessed at any point, it is not difficult to work magic with the future results in mind. The subconscious mind is accessed for magical work, and it is also the place where all of the activities of daily life first take place. Because of how the neural transmitters function, and the distance run by nerve impulses, all things known by the conscious mind actually take place earlier and are only remembered consciously. In other words, there is a time lag between an event and a person’s cognitive awareness of that event. This is why a person may not realize the bath water is too hot until after being in it a few moments — it just takes a while to register on the conscious mind. Meanwhile, the subconscious mind is already aware of the temperature. Witches practice opening the communication channel with the subconscious mind, so that in the tub example, a Witch would be aware before stepping into the tub that it is too hot. Most people simply go through life without noticing discrepancy of time, except when something called deja vu (“already seen”) occurs, and then they wonder why a place or event seems so familiar or has happened before. This is a clue that time does indeed spiral and you dip into it at will.

Since in deja vu experience you seem to know in advance what will happen, if only a short time, you can alter the event. What may be somewhat amusing is the reaction of other people involved in the event. Since they are not connectively using the subconscious mind and not aware as quickly as yourself, you may find they want to react to something that has not happened, giving them a puzzled pause. As an example, I once averted a disastrous dinner argument by keeping silent during the experience when I knew that I was “supposed” to make an innocent remark, which led to a fight the first time around. When the time came for my remark, I did not make it and the conversation at the table stopped cold, everyone turning to look at me! But I had changed history and the table chat resumed without the argument.

When you start altering the future, you may have multiple deja vus of the same event or experience. The meaning of this is that you ran the course of the event, did not like things turned out, changed it, ran the course again, and still did not like the results, so you are giving it another try or realigning the events prior to the deja vu to make the results more satisfactory. Another aspect, which you will begin to recognize with experience, is that there is a variation in the deja vu from what you knew it once was. That means your prior change has worked, and you are given a second chance with the new arrangement. This facet of time manipulation is characteristic of the Witch’s development of subconscious awareness. Witches are people who have refined their ability to process precognitive stimuli and hold on to it so they are able to then alter events before these even register on the conscious minds of other people.

The fluidity of time makes it possible for you to manipulate it so that you can stretch it out, making certain you are never late to any destination. the raising of energy you are working magic, the conscious mind is silenced or relaxed so the subconscious mind may come forward as the active principle. Doing drumming, breath work, chanting, and dancing during the raising of energy when in the Circle is a way to move yourself into an altered state. Drugs and alcohol are not good for this since these inhibit your awareness. When working magic, the subconscious mind creates the reality, which will then be perceived by the conscious mind.

To be a Witch, you have to be ready to live in multiple layers of reality with multiple worlds (Physical, astral, psychic, spiritual, etc.) since these are what you access when practicing your Craft. These worlds exist and are approached with mediation, astral projection, out of body experience, visits to Otherworld or Underworld, pathworking and spell casting. IN the ritual of casting the Circle, you create a space not only to hold the energy you raise, but one that is apart from the rest of the physical world. When you draw the cosmic lemiscate () over the altar, and say that you are standing between worlds, you say you are “in a place that is not a place, and in a time that is not a time” as a reminder for the subconscious mind to be open. You stand at the nexus of other worlds, where the magic you conduct may travel to affect your physical world.