Tag Archives: Witchcraft

Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: Are you “out of the broom closet”?

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This post is inspired by Question #14 from this list.

What does it mean to be out of the broom closet? I mean, in one sense, I post blog posts about being a witch, so I’d say I’m pretty “out.” I’ve also been known to wear Pagan themed tee shirts in public. So yeah, I suppose you could say I’m “out.”

But then, there are people in my life that probably don’t know I’m a witch simply because the topic has never come up. Most of my coworkers probably know nothing about my spiritual or magical views. That’s mainly because I don’t have the kind of relationship with them where such conversations would come up naturally or be appropriate.

Being gay, I’ve also come out of that closet, which I think has affected my views on the broom closet a little. I came out as gay hard. I had to as a matter of reclaiming my sense of worth and to survive. As part of that, I came out at my first job. That led to weird situations. I often felt like the “zoo exhibit” because of my sexuality. One coworker asked questions that weren’t really appropriate. Others make jokes that were far less subtle than they thought.

When I changed jobs, I decided to be a little less conspicuous and decided that I would only come out if it was appropriate. At the time, I was single, then got into a relationship that I wasn’t sure was ever going to go anywhere (it didn’t). So it was pretty easy to keep my sexual and romantic life (the former was non-existent at the time anyway) away from the water cooler conversation.

I will note that at that job, I did accidentally out myself as a witch. I had a tendency to check out the Wiccan and Pagan message boards I frequently on my break, and more than one coworker managed to walk into my cubicle at the perfect time to see what I was reading. Fortunately, they just chuckled and moved on.

So yeah, I’m more or less open about my spiritual and magical practices. I don’t hid them. But I am selective about who I start up a conversation about them with.

Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: Do you have a magical name?

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This post is inspired by Question #13 from this list.

I’ve never used a magical name. A friend once suggested a magical name for me, Ing. It seemed quite apt to me, given that it’s another name for the god Freyr and often is associated with his role of promoter of the piece and maintenance of the prosperity of the land. In many ways, that image of Freyr is something I can identify with and aspire to. If I had ended up joining that friend’s coven, I probably would have taken her recommendation and adopted Ing as my magical name. If I ever feel the need to adopt a magical name, I will probably give that one some serious consideration.

However, my personal practice does not call for a magical name. Freyja calls me by my real name as do my former covenmates and my husband and working partner. It works for us, and I don’t feel a compulsion to take on an alias.

I certainly don’t feel the need to take on an alias for my safety, which is a common reason cited for the use of magical names. I am fortunate that I have enough relative privilege that I don’t need to keep my witchy life and, say, my professional life separate. In fact, I’ve been able to discuss my magical and spiritual beliefs at work quite comfortably in the past.

I get why a lot of people adopt magical names. I just don’t feel like those reason apply to me, personally. So I’m just Jarred in circle and out.

Religion, Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: Do you believe in Karma or Reincarnation?

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This post was inspired by Question #12 from this list.

I’m not a big fan of the concept of karma, at least not in the sense that there is some cosmic scorekeeper that makes sure you receive the same amount of good and/or bad as you put out into the world. I do get the impression that my own understanding of wyrd is very similar to the tradition Hindu understanding of karma. But my understanding of the Hindu understanding of karma is limited by the fact that I’m not terribly familiar with that religious tradition. So my understanding may be completely wrong. So I prefer to focus on wyrd rather than attempt to co-opt the word “karma.”

As for reincarnation, I tend to have complicated beliefs about that. The short answer is that I believe in reincarnation and actually consider rebirth into a new life after death to be the desirable outcome rather than something to be escaped through some sort of reunion with the Divine. This life is full of wondrous things and I want to live again so I can experience them again. Or maybe have all new experiences.

I’m also not convinced that souls are atomic units, either. I tend to believe that it’s more a case that our essence — that vitalizing force within all things — flows back into the universe and flows where to wherever it may. So my essence may end up helping to revitalize a bunch of different people and living things rather than just getting repackaged as a whole into a single body.

Pets, Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: Do you currently or have you ever had any familiars?

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This post is inspired by Question #11 on this list.

Picture of a dilute tortie lying on the end of the couch.
The current queen of the Harris household. Taken 17 January 2020.

I have grown up all my life with pets. Currently, Joe and I share our home with Precious, the delightful sixteen year old dilute tortie pictured in this post. I had both cats and dogs when I lived with my parents and hope to add a dog to our family at some point in the future.

I have never considered any of my pets familiars. I have met many people who seem to think that merely being a witch means that any pet they have is a familiar. To each their own, but that’s not how I see it personally. For me to consider an animal a familiar, that animal would have to enhance or aid in my Craft in some palpable way to me. That’s never happened.

But even if she’s only a pet rather than a familiar, you gotta admit that our current fur-baby is downright adorable, right?

Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: How long have you been practicing?

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This post is inspired by Question #10 on this list.

I wonder what it really accomplishes to tell you that I’ve been practicing witchcraft for twenty one years now. What does it tell you? What doesn’t it tell you? Does it provide any of the nuance that an accounting of that twenty one years would? Does the number alone give you any inkling of the year that I was studying intensively and having great spiritual and magical experiences versus the year that I just floated along, barely even thinking of my Craft? Am I supposed to sit down and subtract years like the latter one from the total to be more ‘honest”? What about the years where I wasn’t even sure I considered myself a witch and explored other Pagan paths? Though those other paths usually had an element of magical practice as well.

So let me tell you what I think it should tell you. It should tell you that I’ve had twenty one years in which to have a wide variety of experiences, learn a variety of lessons, decide what’s really important to me, and be humbled by a glimpse of what I still don’t know and may never know (sometimes that lesson was reinforced through exchanges with Craft Elders who have been doing this even longer than I have). I’ve had enough time and experience to get beyond the “I know everything/I’m the expert” stage so many of us tend to go through at some point in our journeys. I’m experienced enough to have learned first-hand that even a baby witch just starting out can have an amazing insight or express something in a new way that I find marvelous and eye opening. I have enough experience that I might be able to offer insight and wisdom that those less experienced than me might find beneficial, but the wisdom to know that’s not guaranteed.

Finally, it should tell you that I have twenty one years worth of stories to tell. Some of those stories will interest you. Some of those stories will bore you. Some of them, you may find downright pointless. The fun is in the sharing of them. So bring your own stories, because surely you have some (many) of your own. Let’s take turns.

Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: Do you curse? If not, do you accept others who do?

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This post is inspired by Question #9 on this list.

It often amuses me when the topic of cursing comes up. Among many witches — especially eclecstic Wiccans — there’s an almost knee-jerk impulse to denounce the very idea of cursing and insisting that no witches do it. Which simply isn’t true, by the way. While I certainly understand the impulse — after all, who wants to go on being depicted as someone who throws hexes around like trashy insults — it’s simply not true. Cursing is a part — even if only a tiny part — of many witchcraft traditions. It is an option — and sometimes an ethical option — that we witches have available to us.

What I also find interesting is that many who instantly decry curses seem — to me at least — to have very separate set of ethics when it comes to working magic than the ethics they might apply to the rest of their lives. As someone who posits that any distinction between magic and so-called “mundane acts” are arbitrary and meaningless, this doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Of course, I also think that it bears exploring what exactly we think of when we talk about “curses.” What is the criteria for determining that a given magical working is a “curse”? Do we apply it consistently? I’m personally inclined to include anything that causes harm or interferes with free will. By that definition, I would argue that even binding spells — which many of the witches who will emphatically tell you that you must never curse anyone are okay with — are actually curses then. They are designed to prevent someone from being able to do something. That’s effectively interfering with their free will to do that thing. In fact, I find it interesting that when Gardner wrote about a binding spell he witnessed, the person leading the rite had to work themselves into a “killing rage” in order to the spell. That sounds pretty extreme to me!

That leads me to considerations beyond ethics when it comes to cursing. Curses bring a toll. To curse someone, I would need to tap into energies and currents and let them through my body and soul that I’d normally rather not expose myself to. So in addition to determining whether that the situation makes the choice to curse a particular person ethical, I must determine if doing so in a particular situation is worth allowing that kind of energy into my life.

Note that this is not the same as worrying about harm coming back to me “three times” like some sort of karmic boomerang. I pretty much think that idea is bullshit. But there are other, more nuanced and personal consequences that can result.

Also, most curses — and again, this includes binding spells — also tends to tie you to the person the spell is against. Even if it’s just the continued emotional need to know if it worked. Even if it’s just keeping that person in your mind. Sometimes, it’s just better to let these things go.

Personally, I’ve performed a handful of binding spells and one curse of the “may you forever be miserable” type. I don’t regret any of them. And if I think that another situation merits — or even demands it — me working magic toward such a goal again, I will do so. But I fully expect such situations to be incredibly rare.

As for associating with other witches who curse, I’m more inclined to explore how a particular person approaches the ethical implications of cursing and make a decision about how I feel about associating with that particular person. It’s not a simply yes or no question to me.

Politics, Witchcraft

On Politics and Witchcraft

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When I first started getting into Paganism and the Craft back in the late 1990’s, I tended to view myself as apolitical. I definitely saw my Craft as such. I looked at authors like Starhawk and found their interpretation of the Craft as completely strange and possibly even a bit heretical — even if I would have otherwise bragged that witchcraft has no concept of heresy.

In the roughly two decades, my views have changed quite a bit.This is something that became evident to me the other day on Twitter when another witch was making similar comments about the Craft not being political. Today, I have to admit that, while I’m inclined not to audit another person’s practice of witchcraft, I have a hard time imagining a truly apolitical expression of the Craft. Part of that my understanding of politics has changed to the point where I tend to believe that the mere act of existing is political. The rest of it has to do with how my understanding of and approach to the Craft has changed.

To me, every practice of witchcraft has one tenet or goal in common: Self-empowerment which leads to the exercise of one’s own personal autonomy. (Seriously, if anyone’s practice of the Craft doesn’t include this goal, tenet, or ideal, I’d be very interested to hear more.) Self-empowerment and establishing one’s personal autonomy is one of the greatest political acts out there. It is the most foundational motive and goal underneath so many progressive political causes and movements. And self-empowerment and personal autonomy are things that many political forces — especially those rooted in authoritarianism. Embracing witchcraft is practically a direct rejection of certain political ideologies.

In addition to this, I also consider how much of my witchcraft is rooted in the idea that everyone is connected and, in my belief at least, sacred. While this view may not be universal, I still think it’s fairly common among witches. I think it’s hard, if not downright impossible, to see how everything and everyone is connected and the sacredness of it all and not wish to respond to that with a desire to work towards a more just world for all to everyone’s benefit. And at some point, I feel like that’s going to get political. Even if we act locally and support certain causes through volunteer work, that’s still political. Even if we help people individually through direct assistance or gifts. And at some point, we have to look at the impact that certain political ideology has on us and our sacred siblings (which, again, is literally everyone) and respond to that.

I guess I still personally have no use for the particular ways in which Starhawk and those like her have fused their practice of the Craft and their politics together. But I have grown to see that my Craft and my politics do not exist completely separate from each other. Both work together and each one influences the other.

Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: How would you define your craft?

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This post is inspired by Question #8 from this list.

I want to start this blog post with the same disclaimer I put at the start of each podcast episode. As the saying goes, ask twelve witches the same question, get at least thirteen different answers. The answer to this question is absolutely how I define and perceive my own practice of the Craft and should not be taken as an attempt to define or prescribe anyone else’s practice. With that out o the way, on with my answer.

I really hate definitions. I especially hate giving definitions for terms that describe complex ideas. And if anything is a complex idea, it is witchcraft and how I practice it. But I have to try, so here we go:

My Craft is a religio-magical practice that is loosely based on Norse mythology and lore and involves cultivating working relationships with the goddess Freyja and other incorporeal beings and working sympathetic magic.

A few comments on the various elements of the definition:

  • religio-magical: My practice is not atheistic. I believe in the Divine and part of my Craft involves connecting with and relating to the Divine in certain ways.
  • loosely based on Norse mythology and lore: i center my practice around what I’ve learned about Norse an other Germanic cultures of old and their beliefs and myths. However, i say “loosely based” because I’m not exactly trying to perfectly clone those ancient practices (which wouldn’t be possible anyway). Also, I am somewhat eclectic in that I will incorporate other tools and ideas into my practice. One example of this is my use of tarot in divination as well as the runes.
  • cultivating relationships with Freyja: Again, my Craft is not atheistic. I have a strong relationship with the goddess Freyja and she teaches me and offers me her counsel. Her nature and values also influence and are reflected in my Craft. For example, it tends to be highly sensual and passionate.
  • and other incorporeal beings: Mediumship and shamanistic techniques are a strong part of my Craft. Speaking to, learning from, and asking for help from spirits is a common part of my practice.
  • working sympathetic magic: I tend to do simple magic where I use something to represent something else. Or I perform an act one or with something to mimic what I wish to happen.

I hope that it’s obvious that this a simplification/distillation of my Craft. No definition is going to be perfect or cover everything. I suspect if I were to attempt this exercise in another month, I’d come up with a definition that is at least somewhat different. All the same, I’m rather pleased with this one. I find it workable.

Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: What are some of your favorite herbs to use in your practice? (if any)

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This post is inspired by Question #7 from this list.

I don’t use many herbs. I’m certainly not the kind of witch who is a genius at tinctures. About the only time I use raw herbs would be burning some purifying herbs — such as lemongrass — to ritually cleanse an area. Or I might drop some raw dragon’s blood, myrrh, and/or frankincense (I guess resins count as herbs, yes?) on a charcoal brick as an offering to the Divine.

Joe and I also both like to use stick incense — which is often based on herbs — when we meditate or offer devotions. Favorites there include sandalwood, amber (I think I’m really pushing the definition of “herb” with that one), and dragon’s blood. There are also a few incense sticks we like that are a mix of different herbs that I couldn’t necessarily identify.

Spiritual Development, Witchcraft

Witchy Questions: Do you use tarot, palmistry, or 
any other kind of divination?

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This post was inspired by Question #6 on this list.

This is probably going to be a bit of a short answer, seeing as I already did an entire podcast episode about divination last summer. Personally, I think divination is absolutely essential to witchcraft or any other spiritual practice. Divination is what allows a dialogue between yourself and whatever you believe in — gods, guiding spirits, your higher self, you unconscious mind, or something else — and makes your spiritual and magical practice interactive. It’s a way to gain insight into what it is you want to accomplish and possibly how to best go about it. Personally, I am accustomed to using both runes — though I don’t divine with them nearly as often as I incorporate them into my magical workings — and tarot. And of course, I would also considering meditation and other practices I use to communicate directly with my goddess to be a type of divination.