Witch
Yes. I am a witch! A traditional witch. An ecstatic witch. A kitchen witch. I'm a witch, initiated and initiator, in several magickal traditions.
There’s a great deal of history and made up history and baggage surrounding the word “witch”. One notion I particularly like is that of the empowered wise person living on the outskirts of the village. Folks didn’t want to know much about the work the witch did, but they certainly appreciated the knowledge the witch had, especially when they were in need of the witch’s services.
As we journey around the world, through time and through culture, we find witches practically everywhere. The names might change and so may the circumstances of how one enters into the work, but the basic functions are present.
Witches are healers. Witches are attuned to the forces of nature. Witches weave together the strands of the past, the present and the potential of the futures. Witches travel to unseen places. Witches work with allies, human and otherwise. In subtle and not so subtle ways, witches facilitate change.
Many people that find themselves involved with witchcraft are activists and world changers. In the dominant culture, you know out there with the Dockers pants and golf outings and 9-5 jobs, with ever so polite people that just want to be in debt and comfortable with their privileges, witches are still looked at as dangerous or the weird folks on the fringes of the village.
“Regular” folks don’t want to know much about us or the work we do, until they realize that their water supply is being poisoned by a reckless corporation and it’s time to get involved somehow. Or when their child comes out and no one in the family knows how to connect with the LGBTQ+ community and the support resources that are available. Then, all of a sudden, we activists, we queer ones, we pierced ones, we young ones, we old ones, we witches are sought out and consulted for our specialised knowledge.
Our hut in the deep forest has been transformed into the community center, the street protest or the Twitter feed, but the work remains the same and we are still here doing the work.
There’s a great deal of history and made up history and baggage surrounding the word “witch”. One notion I particularly like is that of the empowered wise person living on the outskirts of the village. Folks didn’t want to know much about the work the witch did, but they certainly appreciated the knowledge the witch had, especially when they were in need of the witch’s services.
As we journey around the world, through time and through culture, we find witches practically everywhere. The names might change and so may the circumstances of how one enters into the work, but the basic functions are present.
Witches are healers. Witches are attuned to the forces of nature. Witches weave together the strands of the past, the present and the potential of the futures. Witches travel to unseen places. Witches work with allies, human and otherwise. In subtle and not so subtle ways, witches facilitate change.
Many people that find themselves involved with witchcraft are activists and world changers. In the dominant culture, you know out there with the Dockers pants and golf outings and 9-5 jobs, with ever so polite people that just want to be in debt and comfortable with their privileges, witches are still looked at as dangerous or the weird folks on the fringes of the village.
“Regular” folks don’t want to know much about us or the work we do, until they realize that their water supply is being poisoned by a reckless corporation and it’s time to get involved somehow. Or when their child comes out and no one in the family knows how to connect with the LGBTQ+ community and the support resources that are available. Then, all of a sudden, we activists, we queer ones, we pierced ones, we young ones, we old ones, we witches are sought out and consulted for our specialised knowledge.
Our hut in the deep forest has been transformed into the community center, the street protest or the Twitter feed, but the work remains the same and we are still here doing the work.