I am a witch.
Not that I parade this fact around much. Understand I grew up in a conservative Christian community in the heart of the Bible belt. I cannot tell you how many times I was asked “What Church do you belong to?” Upon meeting someone new. I grew up in multiple Church denominations. I went to a Montessori school that was part of a Methodist Church. I attended Unitarian and Presbyterian church. I even attended the long and drawn out Latter Day Saint services with a friend.
I went to a Methodist University, where I was required to take courses on the Bible. I found some of those classes fascinating, including comparative religion ancient and modern.
The intellectual in me still enjoys reading scientific research into religion and magic. I could make a whole post about what is magic to me, but I am typing on my phone which is not ideal for a long discourse. I was getting a PhD in another subject, but always found myself going down the rabbit hole, and reading journals like Project Muse who have extensive archives on folktales and folk lore.
So, I became a witch in 4th grade when the teasing and bullying became too much. I was the weird kid that watched science fiction movies with my dad and because I was some what isolated as a child, I spent a great deal of time with adults. I remember reading a book about a girl who became a witch and she wrote in her grimoire in green ink. Sadly, time has erased my memory of the title. But I remember telling a boy I would turn him into a toad if he didn’t leave me alone. I got the nickname Witchiepoo from that point on.
My dad and I spent a lot of time in the woods. My mother was with us and we hunted arrowheads and for other artifacts out in the canyons of western Oklahoma. My parents were amateur archeologists who worked with the University of Oklahoma to identify sites of cultural significance. My dad was also an outdoors man who hunted and fished nearly every weekend. We (my mother and I) went along and hauled the gear…and did the fishing and hunting too
The hunting expeditions were not always about hunting. In the 30 years I had with my dad, he never once killed a deer. Never. He like me had begun to see that everything has a spirit. We walked in nature just for the sake of walking in the woods and admiring the beauty that was there.
This is my church…the greenwood and brown leaves of the world. This is where I find my solace. I have many stories about my adventures in the woods and I hope to share them here.
I am startled by the emergence of so many witchlings online. This used to be an esoteric study done rather quietly and in solitude. I don’t know what to make of it. I hope it is not some passing thing brought about by bored people. But, magic or magick however you spell it is as different as each individual. Those of us who have practiced a long time I am sure view this resurgence with joy and trepidation.
It is Samhain here. I live in a big urban city now, having moved away from the cloying and stifling air in Oklahoma. It became too much for me so I moved to where the snow capped mountains and the bristlecone pines are but 30 minutes away and I can always see them rising in the distance. My lastest intellectual addiction are curandera ASMR videos in Spanish, where various types of limpia or spiritual cleansing is employed to cure a patient of evil humors that attack the body and spirit. I admit to being fascinated by folk magic. I watch the ones where the shaman teaches as she heals. I wonder…does she make her supplies or is there a spray of 7 lagoons commercially available? I suppose Etsy would probably have such a thing.
Anyway, I am rambling, and any one of these things I’ve written about deserves its own post.
We do the dumb supper tonight. Right now my husband is headed to the store to get the ingredients for our parents’ favorite dishes. I will make tomatoes and eggs in honor of my father. My mother liked Wendy’s bacon cheeseburgers so we will get one for her. My husband usually sets out natto and a good pair of chop sticks for his mother and a burger for his dad. We also include dog treats for our familiars who have returned to spirit and this year, I am placing candles for two of my colleagues who also rejoined spirit this year. Merry may we meet yet again.
I could write out my ritual but if you already know anything about witchcraft then you know the basics. Salt Earth water incense and the rest is freeform with my besome and anthame.
I will close this post by wishing you a merry Samhain and a joyous Halloween. If you don’t celebrate then may your autumn harvest be fruitful and may abundance come to you.
siriusmoonlight 