​The other day my seven year old had a bedtime story about a witch. She decided that she loved the story so much that she was now a witch. I made a joke;  “What, you read one book and now you’re an expert?” “Yep”, she replies...

We all know people like this, right? They read one book or watch one film -- you know the one I mean! ;) and they think they’re an expert, that’s their job done, they’re now Pagan and no more is needed.

If you are one of these “witches” then what the heck, dude?

There are organisations all over this world dedicated to the seemingly impossible task of getting Pagans taken seriously and, guess what; you’re fucking it all up!

When you go out there, telling folk you can simply wave a magic wand to make things happen and generally acting like a delusional, teenaged attention whore, you’re making those of us who take our faith seriously look as ridiculous as you.

Now, I don’t like to belittle the beliefs of others but your actions are belittling mine. You’re making a mockery of everything I’ve spent years trying to accomplish!

There is, however, a very simple way to remedy this. Pick up a book. Or Two. Three. Four... A whole library! There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Pagan authors out there just begging you to pick up their books and lose yourself in their research and thoughts, to compare their experiences with your own, to learn from them and even let them learn from you!

Being Pagan isn’t something you do; it’s something you are. It’s a lifelong journey that takes over your very being and opens you to the world around and within you in a miraculous yet inherently natural way...
The Hollywood version of “Witchcraft/Paganism” that you claim to practice is, frankly, insulting and immature and it makes the life of people who try to get us taken seriously, even harder!

Now, this may seem like I’m being overly harsh and perhaps I am but even the Love and Light Brigade can only take so much before they lose their temper... And I’m far from a member of that group!

This website has a fantastic list of books but there are even more out there for you to access! Ignorance may be bliss for the ignorant but for the rest of us; it’s a pain in the ass!

Witch Bitch rant over...

With the Solstice upon us I’ve been reflecting a lot on my faith and how it’s affected my life. I began identifying as Pagan when I was around thirteen and I have to admit, and I know others did this even if they don’t admit it, that at first, my family and friends were entirely justified when they said it was just another way for me to get attention or to shock people.

I went around telling people I was a witch and I could do spells and I had a magic wand and all sorts of other things they made me look as ridiculous as I wanted to look! It did me no favours but what troubled teenager ever does anything right the first time around, right?

​It wasn’t until I was pregnant with my oldest, almost dead (literally!) and bed bound that I started to really think about my faith in any real way. I was confronted by my own mortality and it terrified me. The thought I was about to die, my baby could die, and I didn’t know anything about anything. What did I believe? Who was I? Did I still have the time to figure all that out?

Well, it turned out that I did! Time and to spare, it would seem! Ten years on and I finally feel that I know who I am, spiritually if in no other way. I think I like the person I am! And who I am right now, a lot of that is down to my beliefs.

The more I researched, the more of myself I found. One of my favourite things about being Pagan is that, if done correctly, it’s mostly a journey into the deepest parts of you. Into your mind, your soul, your heart. If you don’t discover more about yourself, you need to re-evaluate the path you’ve taken and the way you’re walking it.

I highly recommend a good tarot deck for this. Tarot, for me, isn’t about divination, it’s another way to discover as much about yourself as possible. Everyone has their own preference, I personalyl couldn’t do without my Wildwood Tarot deck. It takes the reader on a journey into oneself that truly must be experienced to be believed.

I suppose with these ramblings what I’m trying to say is that if you’re going to do something like this, do it fully! Don’t just read one book or one blog and think that’s enough because to do that is a disservice to yourself.

Since fully embracing my faith I have become a person, not the half person I felt I was before. I now have a purpose, a calling. I’m not saying that you have to have a faith to find yourself, some people don’t... But you’ll never know yourself truly until you look at all sides of yourself and if one side of you is Pagan, one book, one open circle, one Pagan Pride march or two aren’t going to help you discover your true self and everything that Paganism has to offer!

You are the most important person in your life because without you, you have no life! And it’s ok to be selfish sometimes, especially if your time is spent discovering yourself, especially especially (yes, that was deliberate, I’m trying to be cute, is it working?) if you find something new about yourself that you like!
We live in a world where loving or even liking yourself is seen as conceited, at the same time as being told that we should love ourselves! Such contradictions aren’t just confusing and hypocritical but they’re not very helpful when we’re trying to discover ourselves.

​So, shut the world out, go on your journey of self discovery and just wait and see what life has in store for you on the other side.

Although witches often refer to the period between Samhain and Beltane as the dark half of the year it would be wrong to assume that there isn’t still a fair bit of magic going on while the earth is asleep. The dark and cold Winter months provide many unique opportunities for using the transformation of nature in casting and spell work.

Winter brings about many changes in the weather which in turn provide their own unique function in magic. Nothing says Winter more than a sprinkling of snow over the Earth and nothing says magic to the witch in Winter more than a drift of snow. Frosted crystalline Winter has a magic all of its own, a magic that lends its sparkle to those wishing to practise their craft in these cold months.

Snow is the weather we associate most with the Winter and snow can be a powerful ingredient in magic at this time of year. A forward thinking witch however will not limit her use of this ingredient to the cold months. Snow can be bottled and stored until the warmer weather – it can even be kept frozen in the household freezer for use later in the year. The use of snow in Summer can be very effective in cooling spells and workings to influence the ambient temperature of the immediate environment.

Snow can be used to many different effects in magic. It is often used to invoke the cold and traditionally the cold can be used in workings that involve slowing down or reducing the impact of something. An old watch placed in a pot of snow for example can be utilised in time magic to slow down the perception of time. In a similar respect snow can be used to slow down the effects of time - in much the same way as the house fridge and freezer are used as preservation aids. I know of several witches who wash their face directly in the snow in the sincere belief that it will hold back the years.
 
The beauty of snow doesn’t lessen its ability to be used in more aggressive magics. Snow can be piled up around the poppet of a competitor (a work rival perhaps) to slow down their performance and make the going harder for them. It can be used to kill affection – to freeze the heart – particularly useful for a witch who wants
to dissuade a hopeful suitor or to force a contender for the object of her own desire to lose interest.

The common phrase “to put something on ice” has a literal meaning in witchcraft. The freezing process 
is a powerful tool in protection spells - this can be either defensive or aggressive - you can freeze the essence of yourself to create an ice shield around it for protection or you can place a taglock or an image of the aggressor inside a block of ice to create a shield around them blocking their negative inclinations from escaping. Ice shards make useful weapons for piercing a wax poppet to cause targeted damage.
Freezing the saliva of another person and then smashing the ice cube will reduce the influence they have over you.  Ice blocks can be formed and then carved with runes/spell wording and then left to melt into the earth to activate the intention inherent in the spell. A variation on this is to carve the name of somebody you wish to assume power over into the ice and then hold it, allowing the ice to melt between your hands and visualising the individual yielding to your will.

Snow and Ice are not the only useful elements of Winter weather. For those lucky enough to get a shower of hail stones I would strongly suggest bottling a few.They may lose the structure of the initial shape but the power and force will remain bottled and can be a powerful addition to spell work to give it an extra oomph.
All in all, a good time of year to get working that magic!

Image http://www.freeimages.com/photo/1437812

One of the issues that seems to crop up a lot on Ask a Witch a Question is the problem of combating depression. I’m often asked for ways that witchcraft and more specifically magic can be used to tackle depression and other mental health related illnesses. As regular readers will no doubt have noticed most people asking for mental health related help on this site are advised to seek assistance from their GP or a counsellor. Mental health is a serious business and people who suffer from depression need to have their illness treated with respect and given the appropriate health care. It would be irresponsible and egotistical of me to offer advice relating to medical depression when I have no health or counselling qualifications.

That said, there is a distinct difference between genuine clinical depression and low mood. In instances where a person believes they are suffering from depression it is always the best course of action to seek medical guidance. If however a person is not depressed but suffering from a drop in mood – or the blues as the songs like to title it – then there are ways in which the practise of witchcraft and/or magic may assist.  It is these mood boosting ways of employing the craft that I would like to discuss today.

However I do feel it important to first point out that attitude can play a big part in your own mood. One of the things that concerns me greatly about the spectrum of mental health is how quick so many people are to write themselves off with the label depressed. For some the label even becomes the excuse not to fight for a positive mood which - in turn - perpetuates the depressive state itself. Many of these people are not suffering from depression, they are suffering from a drop in mood or simply having a normal reaction to one of life’s rougher patches. I think it is important to recognise when this is the case and to understand that periods of low mood will pass and normality will be restored. Giving into it or being too quick to reach for the label is ignoring the universal truth that everybody, without exception goes through hard times on occasion.

I also think it is crucial to make every effort to avoid the one-upmanship battle that mental health seems to have become. I have (seriously) seen adults fighting over the millograms of Prozac prescribed to them in a bid to be seen as “the most depressed.” This is most certainly not the state of mind you want to be in to ward off low mood. Instead of fighting for sympathetic recognition from others, fight for happiness in your own head. If you are not as depressed as somebody else then that is a positive. Go with it and be glad about it.

That said – and with the full understanding that we are looking for ways to combat low mood and not clinical depression – let’s look at some of the ways this can be achieved. The first and probably the most important point is that hiding away from the world is unlikely to help. Maintaining a routine encourages you to get washed and dressed and to undertake your daily tasks. Allowing yourself to get behind with your jobs will only make you feel less out of control and promote the sense of failure that you are falling behind with the things that need to be done. If at all possible – work through it and soldier on.

Important as it is to maintain a routine and keep yourself occupied it is also crucial that you give your mind a chance to process anything that is causing the low mood. Keeping yourself so busy that you can’t tackle what is going on in your mind will catch up with you eventually and you will simply wear yourself out.  Try setting aside 15 minutes to just sit and focus in silence on all the things that are worrying you or playing on your mind. Sometimes an anxious state of mind can be brought on by the understanding that something is bothering you which hasn’t yet been addressed by the front of your conscious mind. Tackling these worries head on can often reduce the worry they inspire.

Worries that impact on the mood can feel like baggage that has to be carried around all the time. Chronic worriers often have a sense of dread that if they stop focusing on the worry it will somehow become worse while their attention is diverted from it. This constant holding of a worry in the mind can be exhausting. One of the best ways to combat this is to write down everything on your mind. You can use a worry notebook or - for the more magically inclined - the preference might be for a worry jar. Write down every current concern that a 15 minute meditation has generated and then fold up each piece of paper and seal them up in a jar with herbs like lavender and chamomile to promote calmness. The worries can be accessed at any time and are stored “safely” but having brought them to the forefront of your mind and recorded them you no longer have to bear the constant weight of them. It is the preference of some witches to take direct action with the recorded worries and to burn them to banish and destroy the subject matter of the issue.

In much the same way as recording the worries with pen and paper you may choose to utilise cord or knot magic to record your thoughts and combat your mood. Try taking a piece of thread and focusing on each worry as you tie a knot in the thread. Infuse your anxiety into each knot until it has transferred from yourself into the thread. The thread can then be locked away, burned or cast to the winds to rid you of the source of your worries.

If the low mood isn’t caused by a tangible worry then you might want to consider a working to allow the essence of the low mood to leave you. One of the simplest ways of doing this is to take a jar with a tight sealable lid and to breathe deeply into the jar while visualising all the negativity, misery and anxiety leaving your body with the released breath. Seal the jar and store safely. (For those of you inclined to the more aggressive magics this can be an excellent ingredient for future hex work!)

Meditation can be an extremely positive way of combating low mood. Setting the scene with candles and incense will help you to relax and make it easier for your mind to immerse itself in the meditation. Meditation as an exercise of stepping from one world into another can be a total rest for the mind. Think carefully about what type of meditation you are going to use. Try and make it as visual and as realistic as possible. This is classic “happy place” territory. Imagine yourself somewhere where you know you will be at peace and focus on the sights, sounds and smells of the place your mind has gone to. The more you can direct your senses into focusing on the object of your meditation, the less of your thought processing is being used to fixate on your worries. Think of it as holidaying for the mind…

Taking a bath can help to clear your mind and one of the best ways to use a bath is to stay inside it when the plug has been drained. Lie back and concentrate on the lightening weight of the water as it drains down the plughole taking with it all the worries and stresses absorbed by the water from your body. As the bath drains you will feel a very definite sensation of getting lighter and by the time the bath has drained completely and your worries have all washed down the plughole you will feel a positive sense that a great weight has been lifted from you.

Magic can play a part in lifting the mood but I'll reiterate my first point - your own attitude is the major player in choosing your state of mind. Think down and you'll stay down. Fighting for happiness with every power at your disposal is the best way to beat back the blues for good.

Image http://www.deviantart.com/art/Sad-62448990

There are few topics more hotly debated in the present political climate than the concept of freedom of speech and how this fits into the structure of human rights. The issue was once again forced onto the agenda of public discussion with the shooting of several journalists at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris earlier this week. Although definite motive has yet to be established it is looking increasingly likely that the shooting was a reaction to the social media posting of a cartoon depicting the Islamic leader of Islamic State.

Many articles will be written in the coming days discussing reactions to the shooting and questioning whether the response could ever be considered justified or if it was simply an act of terrorism. That isn’t what I want to discuss today – I want to focus on the initial action itself. However before doing so I do feel it necessary to make my own viewpoint in that murder can never be a rational response to satire. My personal view on this is that the people who gunned down journalists allegedly to avenge their Prophet were morally and ethically wrong to do so. I have nothing to offer to justify the taking of innocent life and it is not my intention to attempt to do so here.

What I do want to discuss is the initial action itself – the act of publishing blasphemy in the form of cartoon satire. I have listened to a lot of people expressing a viewpoint on this over the last couple of days and the main focus of the argument seems to hinge on the question of whether or not the journalists had a right to publish images likely to offend those of the Islamic faith.  Setting aside the very natural emotional responses to the murder of the journalists and ignoring completely the idiotic extreme far right cry to “Kill all Muslims” (yes that hashtag genuinely trended on Twitter this week) the one thing that seems to me to be missing from all these discussions is the word responsibility.

I do not believe it is profitable to have a discussion relating to rights without also taking into consideration the concept of responsibility. The fact that somebody has a right to do something is not an indication either that they should do it or that it is a good thing to do. What appears not to be considered by most people when discussing the right of free speech is the fact that in an integrated and diverse society there is an implied obligation to use free speech in a manner that doesn’t infringe on other people. In other words – you may have a right to say what you want but you do not have an absolute right to offend, to abuse or to use your free speech to hurt other people. In much the same way that racism and homophobia are not free speech, deliberately setting out to hurt and mock religious beliefs is not free speech.

I would question the motivation – not just of publishing images that mock Islam – but of publishing images that mock any religion or indeed mock any matter so close to people’s hearts. One journalist discussing the Paris shootings stated indignantly that Charlie Hebdo had also made fun of the Catholic Pope and respected figures in other faiths. His point was “Look – only the Muslims overreact.” But my point is why publish material mocking multiple faiths in the first place? The intention is obviously to offend.  Putting such images into the world offers no contribution to making the world a better place. The journalists publishing their satire may well have a right to do so but they also have a responsibility not to do so. If the sole outcome of an action is to offend and mock then surely it is reasonable to conclude such an action is best not undertaken.

The whole issue of human rights is clouded by the issue that the rights of one individual frequently contradict the rights of another.  Yes a magazine may have a “right” to publish cartoons that offend members of a faith but equally religious persons have a “right” not to be distressed by public ridicule of their beliefs. In this instance it was the Islamic faith being satirised but to be honest I wouldn’t be too happy if a satiric publication mocked my faith either. Granted my only probable reaction would be a disapproving tut and - I’ll say it again – in no way does printing satire justify killing as a reaction but on the flip side the overreaction in this instance does not automatically imply that publishing the satire in the first place was the right thing to do.

I was particularly irritated by one individual (journalist Tom Holland) who claimed that his right to draw cartoons of the Islamic prophet means as much to him as the Islamic faith does to its followers.  He missed the point entirely – to a believer (in any faith not just Islam) core religious beliefs are sacred and intrinsic to life. I am sure Mr Holland could live his life without the loss of religious satiric cartoons impacting on him too greatly. To separate a follower from their faith on the other hand would be akin to losing a limb – their faith is a fundamental part of who they are. This is what I mean by the problem of one right clashing with another. But in this instance depriving Mr Holland and other journalists of the momentary “fun” involved in publishing their cartoons will have little effect on their wellbeing whereas the resulting publication will cause genuine distress to the followers of the faith being mocked. From a utilitarian perspective if the loss of one right causes greater consequence than the loss of another it should follow that the fall-out be minimised by the right with the greater consequence being the one which is upheld.

Or, going back to the issue of responsibility – the responsible thing is not to cause distress in others for no good reason.

Much has been made of the inalienable right of journalists to publish these images and in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo atrocity there have been calls for these images to be spread far and right – to “stand up for the right of free speech.”  Three wrongs however do not make a right any more than two wrongs do. It was wrong to publish the cartoons in the first place, it was wrong to kill the people who published them and it will be wrong still if multiple national newspapers continue to reprint these images. I’m not saying don’t publish because of fear of repercussion - I’m saying don’t publish through genuine humanity of not wanting to hurt and offend under the guise of humour.

There has to come a time when we stop thinking about what we have the right to do and start thinking about what it actually is right to do.

 Image http://www.deviantart.com/art/Speech-Bubbles-264548754

My own personal preference over the years I have spent as a practising witch has been to practise as a solitary. I have always seen my practise of the craft as a personal and a private thing requiring the involvement of nobody but myself. However over the last year or so I have started to change my view point on this and even found myself welcoming the opportunity to cast with a partner. As this has been a real about turn for both my views and my practise I thought it a matter worth sharing with the Witch Path Forward readers.

I have, in the past, had quite a few reservations about working with a partner. I was worried that taking on board the input of another witch might dilute the direction of my own magic, I disliked the idea of compromising any part of my intent to fit in with somebody else’s agenda and I had concerns that it would be hard to find somebody who would be a good fit as regards experience, knowledge and most importantly belief. The success I have enjoyed as a solitary has been supported by my own personal unwavering belief in the use of magic and it was important to me not to work with somebody who did not share this confidence in how magic can be utilised.

I was also concerned about the potential conflict in methods. There are so many individual views and interpretations of magical practise that I knew it would be difficult to find somebody whose ways of working matched my own. Very New Agey rituals leave me a touch uncomfortable but equally I wouldn’t want to immerse myself in a tradition that didn’t sit right with me. Take something like Appalachian magic or Hoodoo – some witches get excellent results within these traditions but as they have no instinctive or historical appeal for me I doubt I’d have much luck at all if I adapted my tried and tested ways of working to fit the traditional path of another witch. Equally it wouldn’t be fair to insist that a partner focus solely on what works well for me.
Similarly to the problem of diversity in method is diversity in morality. My own personal comfort zone is to walk the fine line between what might be popularly termed “white magic” and what I consider to be justifiable aggressive magic. I would have little in common with a vengeful – curse first, ask questions later kind of witch but equally I would struggle with somebody who wasn’t prepared to malice up their magic when necessary. Finding a partner for magical purposes is as much about finding a personality fit as it is about anything else and as anybody who has ever tried to meet a partner for mundane purposes knows – finding a good fit can be something of a challenge…

A difference in magical ability was also a real concern for me. Inequality in a partnership of witches can very easily lead to animosity and jealousy, both of which would do nothing to promote the mental state necessary for effective casting. As a witch who gets pretty good, consistent results on her own I have often concluded it not to be worth the pitfalls of involving somebody else. Why risk the repercussions for a result that can be obtained just as easily through solitary practise?

The change in my views came about quite unexpectedly when a close friendship of mind evolved quite naturally into me sharing a knowledge of magic and witchcraft with her. I had not sought to take on a formal apprentice but as my friend’s interest (and ability) grew I found myself becoming increasing more comfortable in sharing my own work and practise. Although my initial intention had been to show her enough of a grounding in magic to enable her to handle her own personal life more effectively, I started to find a value in inviting her to my own workings and a benefit to involving a second witch in my craft.

The concerns I had relating to either an imbalance in ability or an imperative to change established method were largely avoided by the fact that I had been the witch who introduced my partner to magic. Although I have taken pains to point out that my way is “my way” and not objectively the “only way” it is only natural that my ways of working have been established as our norm.  The evolution of the teacher/pupil relationship has meant there is little resentment for my tendency to dictate the magical agenda and in deference to my status as the trainer there has been no discord relating to jealousy. The consequence of all this has been an extremely harmonious partnership.

I think the reason this particular partner has put so many of my reservations relating to group work to bed is due to the balance of energies between us. I operate on what I would call a “high energy” level – I’m all about the drive, the will and the passion. Working with somebody similar to myself would be a disaster as there would be a clash in direction and a definite danger that too much would be attempted without the “low level” energy to shore it up. My partner is the exact opposite – where I am power, she is strength, where I am drive, she is focus and where I am force, she is intensity. I direct the magic and she underpins it with a consistent strength of will. This steady strength supports my own drive and allows me to push my intent further knowing it is backed up at every stage with the focus of low energy. (Low and high energy incidentally are my own terms and not meant to imply either one is better than the other – I use them simply to delineate between force and steady focus.)

It is interesting to notice that this idea of energy can be extended to the concept of embodying the elements. Most witches (if their practise involves the elements and for Trad craft in particular this does not always apply) will have an affinity to some extent with all of the elements. But they will naturally have a bias toward one or two depending on their own nature. Although I am happy in groups to work with any of the elements my partnership has allowed me to focus on the two that are the best fit with my own nature – fire and air. My partner on the other hand brings the strength of earth and the calm of water to our work. Elementally we are perfectly balanced and I believe this has gone a long way toward explaining the success of the work we do together.

Magic, like anything else, is easy to take for granted and even the most inspired of witches may occasionally find herself getting into a rut – using the same old tried and tested spells and methods with boring regularity and not challenging herself with new innovation. I’m not sure that the concept of “If it’s broken don’t fix it” applies to magic. Magic relies on passion and inspiration to drive the will of intent forward. As soon as spell crafting becomes common place and mundane it loses part of its power. Having another person involved can bring new ideas and fresh perspective to a craft. I have encouraged my partner to bring her own thoughts to what we do and to design some of our spellwork herself - which I might add has been very successful on every count. Even an experienced witch can grow and develop from the new ideas of those around her and working in tandem with another witch is (or has been for me at least) a good opportunity to introduce fresh energy.

I’ve been very positive about my magical partnership but I’m going to add a word of caution as well. Beneficial as it can be to work with another witch (and it won’t suit everyone, remember that many many witches choose to be solitary for their own reasons) I believe it is important not to link your craft too inextricably to that of another. I am happy to complete some work with somebody else but a good part of the heart of my craft will remain my own and I would urge anybody working in a group or partnership to assert the same. Having fought to establish an individual identity as a witch it would be futile and foolish to dismiss this in favour of blending into a group consensus. A witch’s path is her own - it may cross over, link with and even for short periods merge with that of another but ultimately it is hers to walk alone. 

Image http://www.deviantart.com/art/Aubrey-139477949

Witch Wife

(The lament of a man married to a witch...)

She is neither pink nor pale,
And she never will be all mine;
She learned her hands in a fairy-tale,
And her mouth on a valentine.

She has more hair than she needs;
In the sun 'tis a woe to me!
And her voice is a string of coloured beads,
Or steps leading into the sea.

She loves me all that she can,
And her ways to my ways resign;
But she was not made for any man,
And she never will be all mine.

(Written by Edna St. Vincent Millay)

This is a guest blog this week from none other than Deguwitchrose's own (long suffering) husband. Talking about the Pagan path from a non witch perspective...

Like most of you who read this blog I identify as a Pagan. I am not a fan of organised religion, I find the concept of disorganised religion far more entertaining...

I embrace a belief system from which I can take what I want to fit around my own beliefs and yet still be accepted by other members of the Pagan community - even if I do not believe exactly what they do. I certainly don't want to be spoon fed doctrines decided by other men claiming to be able to interpret the words of their God(s) and, heaven forbid, putting their own spin on the divine. I want to be able to make up my own mind as to where the divine and wondrous may be found.

My path, unlike my wife's (practising witch Deguwitchrose), is not so much about being able to influence the world around me - though it does involve a belief in those powers - but with me it is about celebrating the cycle of life. It is embracing that things are born, they grow, they live and they die - and that by this process we are all connected to a living world with a beating heart, that we have something in common with all living things and at the end of our existence we return to the earth from which we came as all things do. We have a duty to care for our fellow humans and other living things because they are part of the world we share with them. This does not mean I feel we should have a “holier than thou” attitude or feel that we need to live our life denying ourselves pleasure and/or fulfilment to please some spiritual “Big Brother”. This is an anathema to me as we have been given life to live, not to spend it in fear of what God might say if we enjoy ourselves in various harmless but fun ways that he/she might disapprove of.

My path is built on respecting the world and those around you and living the one life you have to the fullest. To do otherwise is a waste of all that life energy.

I feel my Paganism is reflected in pretty much all of my life – my love of nature and animals, in nurturing and protecting my family so that they can grow on their own chosen paths and in

how I treat people I come in to contact with – as other living creatures deserving of respect.

Paganism provides me with both celebration and solace. I celebrate as a Pagan in family rituals at various festival/sabbat feasts that bind us tighter together and I take solace from my path when we return a beloved pet to the earth knowing that they too are part of the cycle of existence.  Remembering someone who lived a remarkable life and made the world around them a better place for having been in it is something I think we should all aspire to.

For me Paganism is not about holding out for a better life in the next world but making this world a better place to exist in through living a life of love, respect and honour.


Image of the author printed with permission

Today is a depressing day. I suspect it to be a day that will be remembered through the hindsight of history as playing a pivotal role in the face of British politics. To some it represents change. For people who believe in equality and democracy it is nothing but a slap in the face.

For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m making a reference to the by election held last night in the Kent town of Rochester. This by election was prompted by the defection of a Conservative MP to the UKIP party and, in a largely Conservative voting area, the voting was closely watched as the result was anticipated to provide an early indication as to how the main political parties would stand up to scrutiny in the General Election next year.

But this particular election did more than shine the light on political statistics, it formalised an ugly rising tide of hatred that has become steadily endemic in British society today. It painted a thin veneer of public respectability on the face of fascism and in doing so it took our country of freedom and acceptance one step further from the multiculturalism that puts the Great in Great Britain.

Britain, like most countries, has always had its bigots. We’ve had the BNP (British National Party) begging for votes in Parliament for years and street protest movements like the EDL (English Defence League) have made their anti PC (and often rabidly racist) views known both on the streets and in the press. But these people have never been taken seriously by the mainstream. The small number of people who actually admit to voting BNP have always been viewed with a certain amount of derision. This (so called) political party has never presented a serious threat to any of the more moderate and better known parties. Last night however marked a change in public opinion as with a sharp blow to the established two party status quo the right wing UKIP (UK Independence Party) took victory over both the Conservative and the Labour party.

UKIP on the face of it present themselves as a serious political party. They go to great lengths to appeal to the man in the street with policies relating to a referendum on staying in the European Union and their pledges for ending student tuition fees and abolishing inheritance tax. But the true face of the party is far more sinister. The economic case they present for reducing immigration is little more than a smokescreen to hide the racism, homophobia and Islamophobia that lie at the concealed heart of the party. To give some specific examples of this - only 2 days before the by election the UKIP candidate Mark Reckless admitted in an interview that he supported the idea of deporting immigrants from the UK – he told the press that a Polish plumber might “only be allowed to stay for a fixed period if Britain left the European Union”. Another UKIP candidate (Heinro Vockrodt) described the Islamic religion as a “totalitarianism ideology against everything modern Britain stands for,” and UKIP candidate Douglas Denny was particularly vehement when he referred to gay people as “abnormal” making the singularly unfunny comment that he wished “They [the gays] would stop trying to ram it down my throat.”

This quite frankly worries the hell out of me. It is one thing to have bigots lurking at the margins of our society but it is quite another to clasp them to the bosom of Westminster. In electing MPs who openly support the persecution of homosexuals, immigrants and participants of the Islamic faith we are welcoming hatred into our politics. UKIP and the equally offensive far right party Britain First (who also stood for election in Rochester) are looking to make scapegoats of huge sections of the British community. It doesn’t take much awareness of history to draw the very uncomfortable parallel with the persecution of the innocent in Nazi Germany.

Now as I am in a heterosexual relationship and as I’m neither an immigrant nor a member of the Islamic faith it would perhaps be easy for me (if I didn’t happen to be a person with a conscience) to turn a blind eye to the likely consequences of a UKIP government. But I can’t. And the reason I can’t is because I can’t forget that famous quotation from Edmund Burke reminding me “All that is needed for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing...”  Every time we vote for a party that supports inequality and discrimination we become those good men, complicit in the evil of self advancement at the expense of others. Even when we don’t vote (and the 50% turn out in Rochester suggests an apathy of which the non voters should be ashamed) when parties like UKIP and Britain First are standing for election even by not voting we are contributing to a society which says it is acceptable to view people as being of less worth due to their racial status, sexuality or religious persuasion.

The media have played a big part in the slow indoctrination that discrimination has somehow become socially acceptable. As more and more publicity is given to the extreme right wing ideology the result is that the public face of UKIP becomes easier to stomach. Faced with a candidate like Britain First’s Jayda Fransen (infamous for her revolting declaration that she will personally bury a pig under any ground receiving planning permission for a mosque to be built) voting for UKIP seems a comparatively moderate option. But it isn’t a moderate option, voting for UKIP is voting for a country where people will be persecuted for their race, their sexuality and their religion. It’s voting for xenophobic nationalism at the expense of human rights.

It isn’t enough to sit in an armchair and watch the face of Britain slowly changing in the hope that somebody else will do something about it. We all share the obligation to stand up for those facing the threat of persecution. It isn’t enough to say I’m not gay or I’m not a Muslim therefore the problem doesn’t affect me. This creeping hatred affects us all. Once we start saying it is acceptable to oppress and discriminate against any group of people we pave the way to any one of us facing discrimination. In a world where discrimination is acceptable nobody is safe from persecution. Today’s minorities become tomorrow’s victims and the apathy of those who turn their backs or refuse to vote just strengthens this growing culture of fascism.

Our forefathers who fought in the wars didn’t (as UKIP and Britain First would have you believe) fight to keep Britain free of foreign influence. They fought for the freedom of the honest man. We don’t need weapons or military power to emulate those brave men and women. All we need is the determination not to allow the evil that is discrimination to flourish in our hearts or in our politics.

We need to vote against the parties who view hatred as the basis of their policies.

Image http://www.freeimages.com/photo/1238378immrchris

This week's guest blogger needs little introduction. DJ Martin is a well respected published author with an enviable knowledge of herbs and plants to compliment her deep understanding of witchcraft and magic. I am honoured to be able to present her own account of her personal history as a witch on Witch Path Forward.

It took me a long time to say that sentence. Like, over 30 years.

I have a feeling I’m older than most of the audience for whom I’m writing, so my story needs a preface: 
When I was growing up, computers fit in buildings, not pockets; the Internet existed only for the military; and the majority of the witchcraft-y authors you’re reading today were also still kids. (Some weren’t even a twinkle in their parents’ eyes.) Unless you belonged to a family of witches, there was nothing available to tell you what was going on.
I’m not one of those lucky ones. I started hearing plants speak at a very early age and no one in my family was able to tell me it was normal. Quite the opposite. At first, I was indulged – children have such marvelous imaginations, don’t they? Then, without being told, I understood it was something I shouldn’t speak of unless I wanted to spend time in a psychiatrist’s office. That the houseplants in my bedroom grew better than any other plant in the house was put down to lighting, soil, something…

Then there’s hearing and seeing spirits. The earliest encounter I still remember vividly happened when I was about twelve. We lived in a house that had been converted to apartments; the house next door was the same.  The bedroom across from mine was occupied by a boy around my age and we would spend hot summer nights leaning out the windows, talking to each other until we got sleepy – or were caught by one of the mothers. 

Late one night, his house caught fire and the boy died from smoke inhalation. A night or two later, as I was staring out my window, missing him, he leaned out the now-blackened window to tell me he wouldn’t be able to talk to me anymore – he had to go somewhere else. I was sad but we said our goodbyes. When I told my mother about it the next morning, she put it down to me being distraught over his death. Obviously, I missed him and my imagination had conjured him up. I knew better but didn’t contradict her. Nor did I ever tell her anything else along those lines.
But that’s not the whole of it. As I entered my teenage years and wondered how to control or change certain situations, spirits guided me on how to wish real hard while burning paper on which I’d written that wish, or tossing a pinch of herbs “borrowed” from Mom’s spice rack into the wind. Thankfully I was, and still am, a night owl. I could do my wishing long after my parents went to bed. I didn’t want to explain to them the “voices in my head told me to do it”. I knew 
how that conversation would have ended.

I had no idea what I was doing was spellwork. But I trusted those voices – even more than I trusted the humans who, in theory, were guiding me to adulthood. Many times what the spirits said helped me through teenaged problems – real and imagined. Mom and my stepfather (probably rightly) assumed most of my issues were simply teenage angst and rather than offer advice, told me, “You’ll have to figure out how to handle it on your own”.
(As an aside, despite my guides’ admonishments, I did the whole Ouija board thing most teenagers did – once. My friends thought it was a joke. I got the pants scared off me because I could feel what they were attracting and it wasn’t pleasant. Thankfully, they stopped before anything unfortunate could happen.)

Fast forward a few years. As an independent adult, I had more things to worry about than making wishes come true, like paying bills. Wishing didn’t exactly fall by the wayside…it became more of a leisure activity, ranking somewhat down the list from barhopping. I did both, just not often because I didn’t have time.

The spirits didn’t abandon me, though. When times were tough (and there were a lot of tough times), I could feel their presence. I was always wrapped in a cocoon of love. That was nice but when I asked for help and didn’t get any, it was more than frustrating.
In retrospect, the spirits couldn’t offer guidance. Surprise! My parents were actually right – I had to figure it out on my own. There are so many things in life you just have to experience – it’s what forms the person you become. As an example, my guides could have suggested a better way to wish for money (a larger pay rise, perhaps) but if I’d not learned how to manage on a very tight budget, my husband and I probably wouldn’t be comfortable today.
I was in my mid-30’s when I realized those wishes (that worked!) were actually spellwork. I don’t remember what triggered that epiphany but what I did was just a little less spectacular than what witches in my favorite fiction books did. No sparkles came out of my fingertips and I never did see the point of turning a handsome man into a frog (however much a cad he may have been), but I got what I needed done. Whatever it was, ‘witch’ became part of my private vocabulary.

I also finally had a house with room for a garden. I hate to cook so growing herbs for culinary use isn’t appealing but I put in a small plot next to the house for herbs I liked the smell of – among them, Rosemary, Peppermint, and of course, Catnip for my feline housemates. I re-established my relationship with the plants I’d come to love in my grandmother’s garden so many years prior. A friend loaned me books on herbal medicine and that was the start of learning how to combine what I knew with the science I learned from those books.

It took until my 40’s when I could surf this new-fangled Internet – and had some disposable income to buy now-available books – to find out there were other ways of working magic. Some are much more involved than my methods, some incorporating religion, others just different. 
It’s fun learning about how others go about their magical practices, which are almost as diverse as the human race. I can respect and appreciate that diversity. This isn’t to say I’ve changed my ways. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. My practice today may be a little more sophisticated than just wishing but it’s still fairly simple. I do pick up an interesting tidbit every now and again that fits with or can be adapted to the way I work.

I’ve been most of the way out of the broom closet for a few years but it’s not something I blatantly throw in people’s faces. Outwardly I look “normal” for a businesswoman who has enough gray hair to justify her status as grandmother. Not only do I live in a part of the world where most of the population thinks witchcraft is bad but there are some in my life who wouldn’t accept anything more than what they see. And that’s OK. I’ve learned to pick my battles and revealing that part of me to an 80-year-old Christian client isn’t a fight I want.
But to those I know are accepting of all of me, 
I am a witch.

Deborah J. “DJ” Martin, known to many as The Herby Lady, is a practicing witch living in the north Georgia (US) mountains. She is the author of both fiction and non-fiction books. Learn more about her at http://www.authordjmartin.com.


Image: Author's own