Choosing the Craft

Margot Adler died yesterday. She was a sociologist, a journalist for NPR and a Wiccan Priestess. She wrote a wonderful book called Drawing Down the Moon, which I love. It discusses Paganism, Witchcraft, Druidism and the like and the varied approaches to all of it. I’m reading it again, not only to honor her life and her work, but also because she has such an interesting writing style. As I read about the various journeys people took to embrace the Craft, I began thinking about the choice I made when I was just a child. It’s such a personal experience. The Craft can be as structured or as individualized as one likes. Not everyone practices in a coven. Many are solitary, as I am. I was clairsentient as a child, and when I was eight years old, I decided I must be a witch. I was drawn to all things “paranormal”, although it was all normal to me. Witches and fairies were real, as was the dragon that appeared to me in dreams. I had the requisite Grandmother from Ireland. Her name was Bridget Murphy, so there you go..named for the Goddess Brigid. I spent little time with her growing up, but I remember being amazed by how commonplace references to psychic ability and spirits were in her family. Clearly, in my eight year old mind, I was a hereditary Irish witch. I had the grandmother to prove it. Not that we ever discussed any of this while she was alive or anything. But that didn’t matter. I was convinced.

I lived in Alaska when I made this choice, and the forest in which I lived provided a plethora of plants and berries to treat ailments (real and imagined) from which my sled dogs suffered. I was a little Hedgewitchling in training and connectedness with nature was essential for our very survival up there. I learned to read the seasons, wild animal behavior, the weather, the temperature, how the air felt, what color the clouds were, and when the snow would fall. You simply cannot live there and not become one with the energy of Alaska. And even when you leave, you never lose that.

When I was sixteen, I was introduced to Wicca. I had just graduated from high school and immediately began college that summer term. It was an amazing and exciting time. My parents were divorcing and I felt like I finally could begin my life. Wicca was feminine and respectful of everything and everyone. The notion of the Triple Goddess illustrating the natural progression of life was evident. Wicca resonated with my understanding that everything is energy. Although I knew I possessed empath traits, I didn’t yet understand that I, in fact, was an empath..that this was the basis from which everything else flowed. Wicca provided a tangible expression for my energy work, both in transmutation of energy and through the use of herbs and crystals in healing. It also provided some structure that I had been lacking. I saw no need to formalize any of it by becoming an initiate, but I appreciated the blessings and spellcraft that others had created nonetheless. I took to heart the idea of to know, to dare, to will, and to be silent, so no one knew what I was. I had learned to keep most of it to myself anyway when I was young. Otherwise, adults became uncomfortable. Friends and family knew pieces of what I believed, but no one really had the total picture until later on in my life.

In the mid-eighties, I embraced A Course in Miracles. That changed my life. It describes who we are and what we’re doing here. It explains that this so-called life we’re living is, in fact, a projection of collective consciousness. It’s already happened and what we’re all doing is reviewing all of it. The permutations and combinations that create the various interactions and situations we experience are endless. The key is that it’s a projection and that we give it the meaning that it has. We can choose to see each other as sinful, or as sinless..our natural state. Sin, judgment are not of Source or God Energy, but a creation of the ego. Over time, influenced by the Course, I began to view Wicca as less of a religion and more a way to honor oneness and connection. To focus too much on this celebration or that requirement to become a witch, seems to give credence to the illusion.

These days, most rituals are of my own making. Raising energy typically surrounds blessings of awakening and remembrance, although it can be for any need that should arise. Runes are my main tool for divination. I also include various Tarot decks, including DruidCraft Tarot, Rider-Waite, and Earth Magic Oracle cards which aren’t traditional Tarot cards. A new Tarot deck I’ve been using is the Western Tattva Tarot. The blend of elemental symbols with the I Ching is fascinating and I’ve been using them daily. I continue to make incense, herbal oils, salves, and tinctures. My herb garden is prolific this year and I’ll have plenty of rosemary, lavender, mugwort, and sage for smudging. Juniper grows everywhere on my property and I’ll use that as well.

I’ve considered myself to be a Hedgewitch for as long as I can remember. It resonates in a way that nothing else does. The hedge is the barrier between. It’s the barrier between the village and the forest..between the physical world and the astral world. Hedgewitches typically lived near the hedge, either on the village side or on the forest side and gathered medicinal herbs from hedgerows to treat various ailments. Not everyone was comfortable with the town doctor and many preferred to see the village healer or Hedgewitch. Riding the hedge, however, is something else entirely.

Riding the hedge, as it were, is a spiritual experience. After grounding, centering and balancing my chakras, I enter a meditative state and relax into being. I experience a pulling away from my body similar to astral projection. I pull back into the observer empath state and allow whatever images to come forth. I ask for angelic presence to come near. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. I wait for my brother, Michael to come into my awareness. Our mother miscarried soon after learning she was pregnant, and when he revealed himself to me, I was ecstatic. He is my most loving connection to our astral existence. Since I believe strongly in non-interference, I never ask for anything other than clarity or vision. It’s also why I don’t perform spells to increase income or to get this or that. It feels manipulative, even though it really isn’t. Abundance is there for the asking. I observe any animals or insects that I might see without judgment or fear. I’m aware of the elemental energies at play and I pay close attention to what dominates. Typically, if it’s windy, then the Air element from the East may be of influence somewhere in my life. If water is present everywhere, then the Water element from the West is involved somehow. There’s always something to learn or take away from riding the hedge..always.

As a side note about angels, I was ill for a long time, during which Archangel Raphael would sit at the foot of my bed while I slept. Raphael is the Archangel for healing, so it made sense. I would feel a gentle pressure down by my feet, as if someone sat down or perhaps pressed a hand down onto the blanket. Sometimes it would feel as if someone was pulling slightly on the blanket. I finally asked if it was him, and the most amazing feeling of love washed over me. Tears flowed uncontrollably, because they will when an Archangel engages you. It’s in moments like this one that it’s clear that God/dess energy is all there really is. Anything else doesn’t matter.

In my view, choosing the Craft, in whatever form, suggests a belief in harmony. But it’s not an intellectual choice we make, to live in harmony. It’s our essential reality. And magick is just an expression of that harmony through the use of ritual, affirmation, and blessings to focus, direct and send energy to create a positive effect. You know..like prayer. Witches just have cool props..

~ Blessed Be