Category Archives: Witchcraft

Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: What is your favorite season?

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This post was inspired by Question #35 from this list.

I grew up in Tioga County of Pennsylvania, not far from the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, which is well-known for its fall foliage. (To be honest, the image in that article doesn’t do it justice.) It was always a delight to watch the trees go from green to being adorned in halos of red and gold. It’s a sight that I still occasionally enjoy going home briefly to catch a glimpse of.

Another thing I love about the fall is the weather here in the Northeastern United States. We’ve escaped the heat of July and August, but are not yet to the bitter cold temperatures of December through February. This is a time of year where our light jackets reappear and you can run around outside. It’s like Spring, but usually more dry. And you get the view of the lovely leaves.

There’s also that sense that the world is slowing down again, ready to go dormant, which appeals to my too-busy mind. (Seriously, I wish my often over-active brain would learn to be more like the earth in the Fall.) To me, that time of year offers the promise of rest. I am a bear, maybe even hibernation. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Spiritual Development, Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: Do you meditate?

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This post was inspired by Question #34 from this list.

One of the practices I’ve ben trying to work on regularly is just spending a few minutes connecting with my body. I will close my eyes and try to calm my mind. Then I will breathe deeply and focus on my body. I try to get a feeling for each muscle in my body and gauge its state and how it is feeling at that moment. This is an important exercise for me because I’m the kind of person who gets “stuck in my head” a lot and forgets to pay attention to my body, how it feels, and what it’s trying to communicate with me.

Another thing that I’ve been doing lately — though other distractions have gotten in the way for the past week or so — is light a candle and start out by reading this invocation to Freyja, Afterward, I’ll sit there and think and repeat “Hail Freyja! Fan the flames!” in my mind like a mantra as I try to feel her passion and zeal for life rise in my body.

Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: Would you ever teach witchcraft to your children?

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This post was inspired by Question #33 from this list.

I suppose that if I were to have kids — Joe and I both agree that we do not really see them in our future — I would approach this topic the same way that I approach sharing my wisdom, knowledge, and advice with other people in my life.

I would not try to convince my kids to become witches, let alone try to get them to practice witchcraft exactly the way that I do. Instead, i would rather focus on encouraging my kids to develop their own ethical framework — which I consider the most important thing in the world — and then consider them to explore the world and indulge in their own curiosity as they see fit. If that means they express an interest in the Craft, I will gladly share my wisdom with them and find any other resources that they may find helpful and enjoyable.

But in the end, my attitude toward any spiritual or magical practice they chose will be to make sure that it honors the dignity of all and otherwise let them be.

Paganism, Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: Do you celebrate the Sabbats? If so which one is your favorite?

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This post was inspired by Question #32 from this list.

I’ve always had a complicated relationships with the Sabbats. A few of them, I feel some sense of connection with at least some level. The others, however, don’t really resonate with me personally.

Samhain always resonates with them, as it reminds me of the ancestors and those who have gone before me. It gives me a time to think of them, honor them, and even seek out their wisdom at a special time.

Yule has also always held something for me. The image of the return of the light in the midst of the darkness, not quite ready to take charge, speaks to me. I’ve often enjoyed just looking at a single candle burning in an otherwise dark room and consider this mystery.

I have a certain love of Easter as the perfect balance and tension between the light and dark and the creativity it considers. This is also the time of year where I think of the Norse creation myth and how the fires of Muspelheim and the frost of Niflheim meet to form (or uncover) the first primal beings. It reminds me that while their may be a sense of duality, both are always necessary and work together.

And of course, I cannot be a devotee of the goddess of sexy times and passion without having some sense of love for the most sexual of the Sabbats, Beltane. To me, that is a time to really appreciate our sexuality and our full embodiment.

Memories, Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: What is something you wish someone had told you when you first started?

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This post was inspired by Question #31 from this list.

I feel like my journey into the Craft was pretty perfect. Or at least perfectly planned. Sure, there’s part of me who wonders if I could have taken a more direct route to where I wound up if someone had, for example, suggested I read Gerald Gardner’s books sooner. But then I wonder, would I have been ready for his books any sooner? Or would that have turned me off and sent me down an even more circuitous route than the one I eventually took. And would I have missed important things by bypassing my forays into eclectic Wicca (and possibly Druidry)? How would I have met Freyja if I had somehow skipped over my friend Mike pushing me toward Asatru?

If anything, the lesson I could have benefited from had it come right from the beginning is to just trust the journey and have faith that I and those who worked with me would get me to where I needed to go no matter what.

Spiritual Development, Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: Do you have a spirit guide? If so, what is it?

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This post was inspired by Question #30 from this list.

When it comes to everyday stuff, I tend to work most closely with Freyja. She’s the closest I have to a regular guide, as she offers me advice and guidance along with instructions on what she wants me to do as her devotee.

I have also communicated with various ancestral spirits and nature spirits, though not through anything so formal as a spirit guide relationship. I’ve also spoken with other gods in a more “one off” sort of situation.

Of course, I think one of the most interesting encounters I had was when a Norn decided to sit in with me during a rune reading I gave a friend a reading. The Norn didn’t identify herself beyond a simple statement of “I am Norn,” said in a tone that made it clear that I did not deserve nor should I expect any further details or elaboration on the point. It turned out to be a very profound reading for my friend, which probably explains why one of the keepers of wyrd herself decided to participate.

Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: Do you consider yourself a psychic?

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This post was inspired by Question #29 from this list.

I’ll be honest. I think most people that call themselves psychics are pretentious windbags who are mostly just stroking their own egos and trying to lord their being “special” over others.

I prefer to say that I have some psychic ability. I think most people have some psychic ability and can develop and refine it to some degree. Personally, i am highly empathic. i also have some ability as a medium, though I’m not nearly as sensitive in that area as others I have worked with. I also took a psychic development course and found I have some capacity for distance seeing. But mostly, I focus on my intuitive side when doing a tarot reading or rune reading for myself or friends.

Memories, Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: Have you ever used ouija?

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This post was inspired by Question #28 from this list.

When I was in junior high school, I attended an overnight event at my school. I think it was some sort of fundraiser. One of the other students decided to bring a ouija board. I got curious and decided to play along. At the time, I thought it was silly, harmless fun. I didn’t really believe we were talking with spirits (but thought it would be cool if I turned out to be wrong about that). I think the teachers in attendance were mostly amuses and perhaps a little concerned that it might get out of hand or cause trouble. But for the mot part, I think we all found it silly fun with just a hint of “what if” in the back of our minds.

These days, I’m not inclined to use a ouija board. If I have need to talk with spirits, I tend to prefer to go to them on their turf. Or I prefer to communicate more directly as a medium or even attend a seance.

One of the big issues I see with the ouija board — and people’s fascination with “talking to ghosts” is that it’s treated like a game. Too many people just decide to see what ghost shows up and start asking them random questions. I often wonder if the average spirit finds this as annoying as I might find random people stopping me on the street or calling me at random “just to see what happens.”

It wasn’t until I started hanging out with my friends Belinda, Michele (may she rest in peace), and Char that I got an appreciation for mediumship. I attended and participated in seances that they conducted and saw how messages from a loved one can be helpful and healing. Of course, I also appreciated that they — especially Char — reminded people that death doesn’t necessarily turn someone into an enlightened soul, and discretion and discernment must be utilized when dealing with messages from beyond.

But mostly, I still like to leave those on the other side of death alone unless I have a compelling reason to speak with them.

Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: Have you ever performed a spell or ritual with the company of anyone who was not a witch?

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This post was inspired by Question #27 from this list.

Several years ago, the religious education coordinator of our local Unitarian Universalist church invited our coven to do a presentation for their middle school religious education classes. So one Sunday, we set up our altar in the appropriate classroom and then took each class (one for each of the two worship services offered) through an explanation and demonstration of our ritual. During that time, we explained each element of the ritual, its significance and why we do it. We also allowed the students to ask questions. That was a delight because middle schoolers can be a bright and inquisitive lot.

We actually didn’t perform a working, but instead just explained where the working would normally go and a brief explanation of the kinds of things we might do for a working. Also, I think we skipped actually performing Cakes and Ale. Partly because we ran into a question of whether it would be appropriate to (1) have cakes and ale and excluding the students or (2) serving students and potentially causing problems. (There was a clear understanding that the purpose of the demonstration was to demonstrate our beliefs and practices, not “pull in” the kids.)

Everyone had a great time and i still have fond memories of doing it. I wish we had gotten subsequent opportunities to do it again.

Memories, Personal Development, Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: What got you interested in witchcraft?

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This post was inspired by Question #26 from this list.

I have written at least two posts about my journey into the Craft and what led to me to it. In those, I talk about how the idea of magic and energy really resonated with me, as it confirmed an idea about the world that I had always imagined and wished to be true. Also, i was interested in the idea that my psychic abilities — most notably my empathy — could be better controlled, as other people’s emotions were almost literally driving me up the wall at a time. And I have talked about how I found in witchcraft a system of morality that allowed me to better love and encourage myself to become a better person by believing that it was actually possible to do exactly that.

There’s another part to that last one. One I’ve never really talked about. When I first started out, i saw witchcraft as a way to get forgiveness. Not from a deity, mind you, but from two people who I had deeply hurt, to the point that they both chose to leave my life. At the time, I thought i couldn’t live without them in my life, and witchcraft was a way to get them back.

I wasn’t looking to cast a spell on them — I understood immediately that such an act would be unethical — but was engaging in magical thinking of the kind that psychologists like to talk about. I had this weird idea that by getting into witchcraft, I could work on being a better person and eventually earn the opportunity to get both of them back in my life.

Fortunately for me, I eventually wised up. I realized that there was no way to “earn” their love and presence in my life. I came to understand that the best thing I could do for both them and myself is silently wish them wellness and healing from the hurt I caused and let them be. I also learned that I actually could live without having them in my life and allowed myself to heal as well.

I’ve thought about this recently due to listening to some witches complain about new witches and auditing some of their reasons for getting into witchcraft. Well, I had at least one shitty motive of my own for getting started, and yet I grew and here I am. So once again, I find myself wondering if we should just let those with less-than-perfect reasons continue their journey and trust both them and the universe to work it all out.