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.

Such a relief that your cat came home Elphame. I’d love to have a cat, my mum has 3, but we have a toddler and a rodent pet so probably not the best combination right now.

speakout I believe it was your tip about essential oil in the shower. I used peppermint today, amazing! I’m going to try it on work mornings.

ThatsNotEvenAWord glad you like the shower thing.

Many essential oils are a little too harsh for some to use in the bath and take ages to use on a heat source. I can use most essential oils on my skin directly, on my neck wrists etc, but they irritate more delicate regions if I use them in the bath.
Thankfully my feet are robust, so sprinkled around my shower floor I can use lots of my uplifting fragrances, orange, lemon, grapefruit, neroli, lemongrass, lime, violet. such a burst in the morning,

I've tried the shower thing too speak out, it's great! Thanks for the tip.

I still haven't emptied my salt water as I've been feeling so lousy. I'm seeing them as bonus soak-up days.

Next step, try making a smudge stick. I have lavender and rosemary in the garden. Do you think basil would work?

Basil is a strongly protective and cleansing herb so yes should work. You could also consider using bramble and/or mugwort.

Bramble is used in the traditional UK version of smudge sticks - the witches whisk.

Thank you for the warm welcome everyone. From what many of you have said, it seems the transition between stages, from maiden to mother and from mother to crone can be difficult times of life for many of us here. But you're so right Speakout, even the the dark times hold power and help us grow. It's so important to nurture ourselves during these times. I love to shower last thing at night by just a single candlelight, and last night I added some lavender essential oil like you suggested. Such small extra efforts to make but nurturing ourselves in these small ways really adds a sense of magic to the day.

Thanks, Elphame. Off for a walk now, so will take some kind of blade & a bag for some brambles :).

It's not the first time I have been seen striding along with a large knife in my hand!
There is a wall near me that is covered in ivy, and when I need some I grab a large kitchen knife and go out the back door.

I had not considered the legal implications of striding out in public with a "weapon" until OH pointed it out to me.

The trouble is you do need a reasonable sized blade!! I have my late FIL's folding saw which is very useful at times if I need a new staff.

As a child I used to take my grandmother's old walking stick when going blackberrying. It was only when pulling at a very tough stem that it all came apart and we realised that it was actually a sword stick.

Highly illegal of course now in public but OK then. I do wonder what happened to that stick!

A sword stick! how cool!

Morning all,

I'm hoping you can diagnose me as I know I have a witchy path but I'm not too sure how to follow it or even what it is :)

I could write pages & pages about how I feel but I'll try to trim it down:

I'm fairly sure my maternal line followed a craft, my great grandmother was known as the village witch & apparently had the knowledge of when a girl was pregnant even before the girl knew, nobody knows how she knew.She would be called upon for births and deaths. My nana used to take me out on walks to identify the signs of spring & the signs of autumn when I was little, sadly I had no interest. These women lived in a poor mining village and my mother left the village to pursue a career in the city where I now live and I think she left the magic behind. She's been dead for a few years so i can't ask her but she loved gardening and growing things and had weird experiences in Macchu Picchu and Egypt that she couldn't explain.

As a young teen I had a weird instinct, I could guess answers to things & know they were right e.g. give me any multiple choice question on any subject & I'd always guess the answer. I got into crystals for a bit as an alternative/hippy teen , and heavily into drugs as I loved leaving my mind & going elsewhere. But my mind can be a bit twisted as well & it has dark places where I don't want to go so I never took LSD as I was too afraid of my own imagination.

As an adult I was married to an addict for 12 years & hid my spiritual side as I purposefully hid from the knowledge he was a drug addict, as I had a very comfortable life. Emotionally & financially abusive, I finally managed to leave him with my children & started a new life.

I'm now divorced from addict exH & have rebuilt my life & am stable, now I have time for me & I'm growing things like veg & herbs, going to festivals & attending talks on trees, making smudge sticks. Holidaying in yurts. Not on purpose but its just happening :)

I've had the feeling for a while now that I'm standing on the doorstep of something that has always been there. Its not as profound as a spiritual awakening or anything like that, its more that I'm at a border of who I really am and I can choose to cross or to stay where I am in ignorance, & either choice is fine.

I'm searching for what I am, I tried Wicca a few years ago but I'm not at all comfortable with deity worship. I'm currently doing an online course on Hedgewitchery which is really interesting & I'm enjoying it but its going into unicorns, fairies, dragons, pixies etc which isn't my thing, I prefer trees & the earth & not even sure I believe in unicorns let alone trying to communicate with one. I'll finish the course & will probably do another on natural magic or ancient magic, I want to start making my own candles.

I'm rambling now. Can I be a hedgewitch without the elementals? Can I do it in a semi detached house with a tiny garden & nosey neighbours :) I want to make teas from plants & grow things & make candles & observe the passing of the year, is this witchcraft?

I also have a cat :)

I’m fuming and realised I’ve maybe put the wrong name in the freezer. Or not enough. Pouring the energies into a binding but can anyone recommend anything else especially when it’s not so much me it’s affecting but my dh. I want to shield/ protect him from this person!!

MidnightVelvetthe7th welcome!

It does seem that you have magical abilities ( although I think everyone does- to a greater or lesser degree).

Your path is yours to follow, that's what I love about being a witch.
I fully claim my way as being mine.
I think it's absolutely fine to take what you need work with things that resonate for you and leave what you don't like at the door.

The only rule in this magical life is that there are no rules- not unless you want them of course.
Some may like the discipline that Wicca brings for instance, the religious aspect of Wicca may work for them, others don't.

I am a witch, not a Wiccan, I am an atheist, ( I am also a scientist!), but I work with deity energies as archetypes and symbols. I scry and I read Tarot.
Elementals can be playful things, working with the elements can be useful.

I'm not much into unicorns of fairies either, although some people are.

It sounds as though you have been though a tough time, I would suggest you use your energies to heal and nurture yourself.

We all need to do this, and it is the most important thing we can do as witches.
I too have been through some dreadful times in my life, but I have found that my battlescars are some of my strongest parts and through healing my pain I have healed and grown to a place I never knew existed.

Wishing you well on your magical path.

Thank you speakout, for your welcome & also for your validation as nobody else knows :)

MidnightVelvetthe7th I have taken the liberty of drawing a Tarot card for you this morning- I have a brilliant new deck ( to add to my growing collection) that I am really enjoying working with.
I was meditating on your situation and dipping your toe into a magical life. I hope that is not an intrusion.

Would you like me to tell you the card?

ThatsNotEvenAWord I have a powerful binding/tie hands spell if you would like me to pm it.

It's the one I used to cast two nasty characters out of my OHs work life recently, I talked of it upthread. You will need one or two bits and pieces.

speakout yes please. I remembered you talking about the effective one you cast before. Thank you

MidnightVelvetthe7th Sounds like you are doing just fine.

The trouble with online courses is that you never really know how good the teacher is and I've seen plenty of examples of really poor and quite often inexperienced practitioners setting themselves up as teachers. There is one individual on FB who I've blocked and banned from my hedgewitch group as they ask a question, get answers from those who know and have published them in a book under their own name. Cheeky so and so.

I'm afraid any course that wanted me to connect with unicorns would have lost me! I do work with elemementals but I've never found them cute and "Tinkerbellish" and I'm very careful around them. Dragons? Well I'm Welsh so of course I like dragons but as an archetype.

ThatsNotEvenAWord - what is the actual behaviour you want to stop and do you know who it originates from? The more precise you are in workings the better the outcome. Freezing can be a bit of a blunt instrument at times.

Speakout I'd totally forgotten about that stick until this conversation. I will ask my mother later if she still has it.

Elphame it is family members talking behind his back, belittling him and criticising him. Poisonous is the word I’d use. I have physically bound some of their names before freezing and have just buried another name in the garden (in a fit of rage!). (So new to all this so it’s all guesswork). I’d just like it if they could follow the rule ‘if you can’t say something nice don’t say it at all’.

speakout yes please! You are most welcome and its no intrusion.

Elphame may I please join your facebook group, I'm already a member of some hedgewitch ones but would love to be in yours.

MidnightVelvetthe7th this is the card I drew for you as you gear up on your magical path- very exciting The Sun

*Let your light shine. Be confident in the sacred power of your original nature.

The Sun card advises you to have confidence in your natural divinity. Throw off any cultural conditioning that keeps you from being authentic with yourself. Step into the full light of truth and reveal your motives and principles. Once done, you will no longer give away power to the people that criticize and shame you. Focus on the positive and the real. Your authentic shining self can be a light for others if you project it without contrivance.*

I've had the feeling for a while now that I'm standing on the doorstep of something that has always been there. Its not as profound as a spiritual awakening or anything like that, its more that I'm at a border of who I really am and I can choose to cross or to stay where I am in ignorance, & either choice is fine.

Midnight Velvet, your words above really resonate with me. I feel I'm approaching that doorstep too. I like the idea that our paths our as individual as ourselves. I hope you find yours.

Speaking of finding online guidance, teachers, etc, I've been enjoying a series of short YouTube vids made by a Welsh solitary Pagan witch who is so down to earth in her advice. "It's your path and only you can walk it" in a lovely Welsh lilt keeps echoing around my head these last days. 🙂

speakout wow! that's amazing, thank you. I'm going to do what the card says & cross over my border. Thank you so much for your guidance.

FitzFool would you be able to share the name of the witch so i can find her please?

I hope you don’t mind me marking my place. I’ve just found this thread and I’ve always been drawn to this topic so would love to read the whole thread when I have the time.

MissDollyMix

Welcome.

We all progress and move through this path. No matter what stage we are at.

I hope you don't mind me sharing, but in the past couple of years I have made big changes too,
Although I have been practicing witchcraft for decades for most of that time I have kept it hidden from others.
Fear of being judged, ridiculed, it has at times felt like a dirty secret.

But I decided to come out of the broom closet and be more public- I don't broadcast, but neither do I hide.
Apart from two family members( some of you will know all about this- big church people) my friends have been amazing. Even people I meet at gym class, my own kids ( pretty much adult now), everyone is really supportive, curious, asking me for help etc.
My OHs family have been amazing- they are totally proud of what I do- even my MIL will talk of her " fabulous DIL- she is a witch you know".
Quite funny.
I am glad I have found the courage, and I am glad that no one ridicules ( at least not to my face), it has strengthened my confidence and actually enhanced my abilities too.