QUESTION - I have been studying Wicca for a few months now because the Catholic religion was just not feeling right for me anymore. I have been in a state of confusion about my spirituality. So Wicca seemed really interesting and appealing to me. I woke up one morning praying to the God and Goddess to let me know if this is the right path for me. I got up and went into my bathroom, looked in the mirror and in my head I heard the words "Call me Mother Love". I really don’t know a lot about the God and Goddess so I really don’t know what this might mean because I am still studying. I know it sounds crazy, but I was wondering if you might have some insight on this. Thank you so much.

ANSWER – I’ll be upfront with you and tell you to start with that I am not a Wiccan witch and I do not practice Wicca. However my beliefs are possibly more similar to Wicca than those of a lot of Trad witches because I do honour deity (which is actually quite rare for witches outside the Wiccan religion) so I feel I can comment with my knowledge of deity even if I can’t share a personal experience of the Wiccan religion.

Do I think it likely that after a direct call for help a deity would have gone out of their way to give you the sign you needed? Absolutely I do. I can think of nothing more rational. Communication with the Gods is hindered not by their refusal to speak but by the refusal of human kind to listen. When you open your mind and allow it to take in more than that experienced by the primary five senses you become more receptive to the realities beyond your own simple life. In this case you prayed, you focused intensely on your own spirituality and you opened your mind to being receptive to whatever message the Gods chose to give you. In my opinion the message you received was a pretty good indication that what you are doing is right for you.

I do think you need to maintain a certain level of objectivity, your path is what you create and not something that anyone, not even the Gods, lead you to. I would urge you to make your own decisions about what form of spirituality works for you and to place at least some of your decision making on cold hard rational facts as well as intuition and signs from beyond. An indication like this is a worthwhile signpost on your journey but the destination you seek and the path you follow are yours and yours alone. Decide for yourself what you want and where you want to go.

Image http://www.deviantart.com/art/The-Goddess-161685770 (moon88)

QUESTION - Is there any spell that can be cast to change my spoken language to another.? I want to be able to fluently speak it, write it and understand the new language. is this possible?

ANSWER - In all honesty, no. I’m afraid magic doesn’t work quite like that. Learning a language is about putting in the work in from the ground up and magic won’t give you a shortcut in doing that.

However, I can suggest a couple of things that may help. The first is a bit tentative but might be worth a shot. Several people have noticed that hypnosis can help them to recall languages that they have spoken in previous lives. It may be worth undertaking a session of regression therapy to see if there are any languages you have spoken before that the hypnotist can help you to recall into your conscious mind.

The other suggestion I have is not to overlook the power of the subconscious mind. People who learn a language with spoken tapes played to them while they sleep do seem to have a pretty good success rate with the language sticking with them. Again, worth a go but I’m afraid there really is no substitute for learning the language with the basics, reading books in the language and trying to interact with as many native speakers as possible. 

Image http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1102374 (thiquinho)

QUESTION - Hi, love your blog! It really helps ground witchcraft down to earth for me, you're a very sensible witch! I have a question, I want to burn pieces of paper in my backyard and have researched how to do this safely (without burning the whole place down, thank you very much) so far I have been told to build a fire pit but what if I can't build one (resources, time, etc.) How would one go about safely burning something in my own backyard? It doesn't even have to be a big bonfire or anything. Thanks in advance.

ANSWER -  Not often I get called sensible - thanks! Lol. Perhaps you would consider dropping a line to my husband...?
I've been thinking about your question and I think I may have the answer. Its a bit cheap and cheerful but it is certainly down to earth witchcraft. How about getting one of those disposable barbecue units and then when you have used it once, simply replacing the coals in the bottom of the base. It will certainly generate enough heat to burn paper, it is designed to be safe and as far as cost goes, its a pretty cheap solution. 

I personally use a chiminea and if you are looking for a more permanent solution which unlike a fire pit is very movable and doesn't need much construction, a chiminea may work for you as well. But for the most basic immediate solution, I really don' t think you could do much better than a disposable barbecue.

QUESTION - Hi, I am from Ghana. I am willing to be a witch. Please, I am ready to abide by all rules, please can you help me?

ANSWER - I find the way you phrase your question very interesting because there is a certain irony in the fact that you talk about wanting to become a witch but in the same sentence you make reference to wanting to abide by rules. The two unfortunately don't go all that well together. That is not to say that there are no rules to witchcraft, there are certainly structures that a witch needs to follow (usually self designed, mind you) but certainly in my opinion the hallmark of the witch is someone who has transgressed his/her self beyond following rules and has moved into the sphere of thinking for themselves and starting to direct the flow of their own life. 

QUESTION - Can you please help me? I have heart problems - I have defibrillator inside my body and two wires running to my heart to help my heart work like it should. I am depressed and have bad nerves and I take medicine for nerves and for heart. I have low blood sugar and poor health and I need some protection from people who would harm me if they got the chance. Can you please help me?

ANSWER - I think it is very important that I stress my own limitations to you and define the sphere in which I can offer help. As I am neither a medical physician nor a qualified psychologist I am not in a position to offer you advice regarding either your physical or your mental health. Certainly as your problems in both areas appear to be quite extensive I think it very important that you continue an ongoing relationship with the medical profession and continue to be advised by them on the issues you are currently suffering with.

I wish you had elaborated a bit on the people who you believe would like to harm you. Do you fear an attack on your person? On your emotional equilibrium? Are you worried about practical tangible dangers or are you fearing harm in the nature of negative magic? (I am wondering this as obviously there must be some reason why you have specifically chosen to consult a witch…).

In terms of general protection, you can choose to carry a symbol that has personal meaning to you. A rune stone perhaps, or a triquetra (invoking the protection of the Goddess). Fears of attack from the other world can sometimes be dispelled by carrying a piece of iron and of course garlic, although heavily popularised with the whole vampire cult fiction, also has genuinely protective properties. Some witches choose to carry a hagstone for protection (a stone with a naturally occurring hole in it) – these can easily be threaded onto cord or chain to be worn around the neck for protection.

You can protect the boundaries of your home by smudging or even salting the border of your house. Depending of your experience of working with magic you could also choose to make a witch bottle (sealing your essence away in a sealed bottle – the idea being that anything seeking you out for magical attack is drawn to the bottle rather than to yourself) – a witch bottle would be a good solution if you suspect that those who want to harm you are likely to use magical methods.

As you’ve given me limited information, I feel quite justified in suggesting that some of these fears you have may be brought about by either your weakened mental health or by the medications you have been prescribed. I urge you to discuss the fears you have with your own doctor and to explain the effect that they are having on you. There may well be alternatives that the medical profession can advise that will ease your mind a little of all this worry.


Image http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=44129 (pixelbox)

QUESTION - I have been studying Wicca for a few months now and doing a few simple spell. Last night I had to get up and take my dog out. It was pretty late. I walked into my living room and I could hear flute music.Everyone was asleep at the time but me, no radios or televisions on. I listened for a couple of minutes and then took the dog out. I came back in and it was gone. The music was very calming and pretty, almost native american like. What could this mean? Thank you for your insight.

ANSWER - Its not often I get a question with so many possible answers so thank you, this one is quite a conundrum. What I'm going to do is go through all the possibilities one by one and then at the end I'll tell you which I personally think is the most likely.

1. There is a source of the music but it just wasn't obvious to you. This could be something like a car parked outside your house with the speakers turned up or an ipod still playing in your bag, that sort of thing. Possible but I think you probably know your home well enough to know if its a probable explanation or not.

2. You have a physical problem with your hearing. There is a recognised medical condition known as musical ear syndrome which could offer an explanation for hearing music that isn't there. It seems to be linked to tinnitus and other disorders of the ear so if you have a history of partial deafness and hearing problems, that may well be a factor in what you experienced.


3. You entered a state of hallucination. I'm presuming you were neither drinking heavily nor taking mind influencing drugs. However certain combinations of food and medically prescribed pills can affect an altered state of consciousness. Certainly some medications react badly with alcohol. Again, you're in a better position to know if these could have played a part in what you heard or not.


4. You are suffering from a psychological disorder. Hearing random music is a very very unlikely first symptom of psychosis. If you have a history of mental disorders this could be a new symptom, if you have never suffered with psychological issues in the past I think it very unlikely that the music you heard could be attributed to such a cause.

5. You could have a highly developed sixth sense known as clairaudience. This is the ability to hear sounds not available to those perceiving the world with the primary five senses. You could be experiencing a sound memory, an imprint of the music played in your house at a previous time. You could be foretelling a future event and hearing the music as it will be played at a future point in time. You could even be picking up on an experience somebody close to you is having and tuning into the experience they are having at the same time.  (I'm oversimplifying a little bit here - technically experiencing a time slip, a precognition of the future or an insight into the mind of another are three very different abilities. But in this case I certainly wouldn't want to rule any of them out.

6. You may be making a connection with the spirits. Music is a universal language and it would therefore be unsurprising to discover that it is an easier way to breach the link between the worlds than word based languages would be. What you heard may have been the attempt of a spirit to contact you. Think about the music you heard, does it have any relevance to you, to your ancestors? Could there be a message in it for you? Did it feel personal or do you feel you stumbled across something not intended for you? I can't answer that bit for you - you tell me, did it feel like somebody was trying to communicate with you?

So more theories there than the assassination of JFK. But as with all good mysteries, here's the bit where I tell you what I think really happened... When you start to open yourself to the spiritual world, be it by studying witchcraft, religion, Buddhist meditation, whatever - you start to discover new abilities and you gradually start to develop as a person with a greater understanding and affinity with the world around you. The more you start to work with your new gifts, i.e. meditation, spell work, manipulating energy flow etc, the more you start to appreciate the fluidity between the scientific world of absolute and the magical world of possibility. I think that your mind, prised open from your study of Wicca and magic has developed to the point where you are subconsciously open to the possibilities that were simply not available to you before. And that night, in a state of relaxation and quiet in the middle of the night with nothing to interrupt the contemplation of your mind, your mind opened to temporarily experience something beyond your five senses. As to whether it was a memory of your house past, a glimpse into the future or a calling from the spirits, I don't know. I'd guess any one is equally likely. But what I do think is that at that moment when the circumstances were just right for you to slip out of the grip of the real world for a moment, you experienced something of a more spiritual/ghostly/clairvoyant nature (take your pick of the words). It will probably happen again and as you become more confident with your own abilities you may even find it is something you are able to control. So good luck with it, a very interesting ability to have and if I'm right one that you may well encounter again. Do let me know if you do.


Image http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1295764 (ba1969)

I'd say no to be honest. A lot of witches like to use their entire homes to express who and what they are and their homes may well look similar to the collection of items you would expect to find on an altar. But to me an altar is a focal point for magical/divinity work and I wouldn't want to mesh it in with the everyday tasks in my day to day life. That isn't to say that there isn't a value in the mundane - many witches find routine tasks can assist in meditation and certainly creative tasks like cooking and baking can be turned into offerings to deity. But in terms of having a specific place as a focus for belief and workings, I would consider an altar to be a designated point in the home and not the entirity of the home itself.

Well, I’m a bit thick skinned to be honest, I don’t really notice it.

I’m also very lucky because there is very little prejudice in the UK where I live and people tend to be interested rather than judgemental. It goes without saying that my family and personal friends are supportive (I obviously wouldn’t bother with them if they weren’t) and I find that most people I meet have an open mind to what witchcraft means in the modern world. That said, probably 95% of the people I meet on a day to day basis don’t know I’m a witch. I don’t wear a badge advertising it. I have a couple of subtle signs that people sometimes pick up on – I wear a pentacle and I usually have a piece of crystal on my desk, but when I’m at work I’m paid to do a job, not to talk about witchcraft. And I think that’s a relevant point, there is a growing number of quite militant witches who insist on forcing their beliefs down the throat of everybody they meet. It goes against the traditional idea of secrecy inherent in being a witch. A witch content with her craft and her abilities has no need to validate herself by sharing her personal beliefs with everyone she meets. A subtle sign here, a nod there, a glimpse of recognition is enough, you don’t have to be obvious and you certainly don’t have to jump on a soap box waving a placard and shouting rights for witches. Secrecy has always been prized in the craft and you can bet your savings account that the witches doing the real magic are the ones keeping quiet about it.

Image http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1026766 (mzacha)