Any witches here?

[speakout]

Or Wiccans. or Pagans?

I was raised as a witch- my grandmother was born in 1890 and taught me how to scry, knotwork, many magical activities. She was a dresser of the dead and a lay midwife ( before the NHS).
I now practice my craft with enthusiasm.
A little tricky as my extended family are not supportive.

@Tangled59 I live in the middle of a town too but if you look you'll still find nature can be close by. I enjoy foraging and so far I've found hazelnuts, medlers, elder, blackberries, wild garlic to mention just a few. I even found a fig tree this week!

I also have two cats, no familiar though.

tangled- not my place to comment

So a question for wiccans - what is it that makes you identify with wicca rather than witchcraft?

I am witch, but not wiccan.

Not wiccan either.

My "familiar" does not inhabit a living animal. I have pets but they are just animals. Not being incarnate does have a lot of advantages that we can and do use.

Elphame I love hearing your words

I don't identify as Wiccan either, although I'm always interested to learn about different traditions/practices. I love this thread, it somehow makes me 'rest into myself' with ease, and what feels like a natural way to be. I think I've said it before but it also makes me feel very connected with my female ancestors, who I now believe to have been cunning folk ( have I got the phrase right?!)
I had a black cat who was wonderful but not a familiar. I love animals and have, throughout my life, met a few who I feel I've had a really special (perhaps familiar) bond with.
I'm loving reading and learning from your posts here, thank you for sharing them

Thank you speakout

@Tangled59 I can answer the question why I as a witch do not identify as wiccan if that would be any help?

I can only too speak for myself.

I have a big problem with organised religion- particularly Abrahamic faiths.

I detest the idea of having an "overlord"- particularly a male one- who sits in judgement over me.
And I am atheist.
To me being Wiccan would simply swap one set of deities for another.

Despite being atheist I do work with goddess and god energies, but they are intrinsic, not external to me.

I have problems with organised religions too, I don't want or need anyone dictating my own spirituality.
Open debate, support, guidance, community, all totally fine. But hierarchy doesn't have a place for me personally.

Each to their own though.

I have a question if that’s ok... when casting spells, especially as a someone new to all this, would you recommend following something (recipe/words etc) already written? I still need to do my research and would appreciate pointers in where to look. I am really struggling with anxiety at the moment and I was looking back through the thread and noticed where you said you often begin with yourself when trying to improve the general harmony and wellbeing of your home. I’ve been trying to get back in touch with nature more since reading this. My DS and I planted some seeds in our garden today and we said some words as we planted them. That was lovely. Sorry for the rambling!

ThatsNotEvenAWord Starting with yourself is an excellent place to begin.

Many start by using pre written spells etc and move on to writing their own. I, myself, am totally unable to follow a recipe exactly ( for food too!) so I may use someone else's work for inspiration but I'll change it to work for me.

I personally find rhyming spells faintly ridiculous and can't get behind them but they work very well for many people. It really is very personal. If the words mean something to you then use them.

It sounds like you've made a nice start with the seeds. I find sitting quietly next to a tree is very connecting or even sitting barefoot on my lawn. I find traditional meditation which is often recommended quite hard as I have a monkey chattering mind but there are plenty of techniques you can learn that can get around that problem.

I agree, I can't get behind rhyming spells which feel twee to me. Its also why wicca ultimately wasnt for me. I like to work more instinctively and not have any preformatted ritualistic stuff I need to follow, instead to me uts about connecting to myself and the spirit of whatever theme I'm working with.
I prefer to use gestures and form free sentences in my head that feel right, I may whisper a stock phrase I use for a specific purpose. I like symbolism so I draw heavily on crystals, colours, herbs, to me that and the intent is enough.

Try a few recipes and follow a few written spells at first just to get a sense of how it makes you feel but dont worry if it feels weird.

I have three cats, two of whom are big boys who have never given two hoots for my magic things. Then one day this tiny bedraggled kitten showed up on my doorstep, nearly dead. We brought her in and she never left. She's my constant companion when doing anything magic or woo. Two of these pictures are of her attending work and one is from the night she found us.

Thanks for the advice :) I’ve just had a go using my own words in my head. Felt right/natural, kept it really simple. I used peppermint oil because I found some and it smelt nice, I’ve just googled its properties and I think I’m going to sprinkle some round my house next!

Just realised it’s the solstice on Thursday. How does everyone mark it?

Panda your cat is gorgeous, I wish I had one.

No real plans for Solstice - I'm not a morning person and getting up at stupid o clock to watch the sun rise when it'll probably be cloudy is not my thing at all.

I'll probably mark the exact moment of the solstice in the stone circle in my back garden but that'll be it. The cross quarter dates are more important in my practice and Lammas will be much more elaborate.

I rarely buy crystals due to the ethical problems with them but I needed a couple of big pieces of some particular ones so I picked up these this morning.

A smokey quartz point and black obsidian. The coin is there for a sense of scale. They are quite stunning and just what I need.

Wow that obsidian looks fierce!

It is! Which is perfect for the use I have planned for it

I love obsidian - my ritual knife has an obsidian blade. Absolutely razor sharp

Are you using the obsidian to banish someone or something ?
I came across a reference to that very crystal this morning after swatting up on freezer spells.
Funny coincidence, well , probably not really if I'm googling magic then reading the witchy thread

Haha - yes it has many uses.

Actually I could use moldavite for this but to get a decent sized piece that is genuine and not lab created would require a second mortgage. Not to mention that when I have bought some small pieces in the past I've lost them pretty quickly. I was looking for one yesterday but it's not in the box where i put it....

I think some crystals don't want to stay with us.
I cannot keep Connemara Marble for some reason.

Obsidian (one of the forms of volcanic glass) is incredibly sharp, as sharp as today's surgical scalpels.
I agree that crystals seem to come and go, some return and others, well, they just don't. I hope my piece of Desert Glass, backlit by sunlight in the attached photo decides to stay for a while as I do love it.
I like enhydro crystals, ones that have a bubble or several bubbles of oil or water inside them that's been there for millions of years.

All of my pets just turn up on the doorstep, I never have to search for anything, I just open the door and there they are, individually. Currently there are three black cats that share my home, my Dark Trilogy. here are pics of two of them.

Love the cats blank times.

Yes obsidian is amazing, in fact not a crystal at all, but a naturally occurring glass, the internal bonding is not crystalline.,
Still lovely of course.
The use of obsidian as a cutting tool can be traced back to our earliest ancestors and when polished can be used as a mirror or scrying tool.
I have some snowflake obsidian which has some crystal inclusions, very pretty.

I don;t have any enhydro crystals but I do have some quartz with chlorite inclusions, they look like fragile moss or little fairy gardens.

They are beautiful blanktimes

Happy solstice everyone

Calyx happy solstice!!

And everyone!