How to Become a Witch, Amber K. [new books to read .txt] 📗

It was customary in earlier times for protective talismans of brass—one or many—to be fastened on the harness of horses. These horse brasses or smaller “pony brasses” were originally shaped like suns, moons, or other symbols of good fortune, but in time many designs were crafted to commemorate interesting places or people in history, as well. Some show horses, especially the draft breeds, still wear the brasses as part of their show regalia, and many people collect them.

While we will admit we like witchy things, we hope you realize that the trappings don’t make the Witch. The tools and tchotchkes speak to younger self/inner child, but it is the mind, heart, and spirit that make the Witch. Knowledge, imagination, will, silence, faith, and love together make magick happen, and your quest for these is what will make you a true Witch.

Witch jewels for ritual

During ritual, a high priestess may wear a necklace of alternating amber and jet, symbolizing the cycle of rebirth. She may also wear a crescent crown with the waxing, full, and waning moon on it.

A male Witch may wear a torc, a necklet formed of twisted strands of metal; there is a break, with decorative finials or animal heads at each end. This break signifies the death and rebirth of solar and harvest gods. A high priest may wear an antler crown or headpiece.

In some covens, each member has a silver bracelet or ring, perhaps engraved with a pentagram or the coven sigil.

Look, don’t touch

Most Witches are very careful of their ritual tools, and some have crafted or purchased beautiful and elaborate ones. Other Witches prefer a stoneware cup and a windfallen wand from the woods. But all ritual tools have one thing in common: they must not be touched by those who don’t own them without permission from the owner. We spend a lot of time investing our tools with our personal energy. Handling by another person changes the energy balance and “feel” of the tool, so it has to be ritually cleansed before it can be used again. So—look, admire, and ask if you may touch.

[1] Traditional; source unknown. Our thanks to the author—we have used this for many years, with gratitude.

Chapter 5

I Am a Witch at Every Hour

Witchcraft as a Way of Life

In darkest night, in forest deep,

Touching magick, wielding power,

In broad daylight, awake, asleep,

I am a Witch at every hour.

Witchcraft is not really about wearing robes and doing rituals; it’s all about how one lives. After all, any spiritual path that has no effect on one’s life outside a church wouldn’t be worth much. In magick, there is a saying from the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus: “As above, so below; as below, so above.” This means that everything is connected and what we do influences everything around us, just as we are influenced by everything around us. This is true in our way of life—how we live influences how we are able to live. If we pollute, then eventually we will not be able to breathe or drink clean water. What goes around comes around. Since the earth is sacred, Witches do our best to treat her well.

However, there is no single Wiccan “way of life”—thank the Goddess! There’s no approved food list, no uniform, and no sign-on-the-dotted-line dogma. Witches are individualistic, independent minded, and often downright contrary, so this chapter will be sprinkled with a lot of “mostlys” and “sometimeses,” because Witches are worse than cats when it comes to getting sorted, organized, and lined up in neat rows. We’ll give you a picture of some ways that many Witches live—just remember, Witches love being the exception to any rule.

Those fictional witches

“Witches” are perennial characters in books, films, and television shows. Nasty witches abound, but we have seen some friendlier ones too. Remember Glinda of Oz, in the fluffy pink prom dress? Or Wendy the Good Little Witch, who wore red sleepers and hung out with Casper the Friendly Ghost? Samantha the nose-wiggler in Bewitched? Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman camping it up in Practical Magic? Almost all fictional witches have two things in common, though: (1) Their magick is unlikely and miraculous, and (2) They are powerful women. At least we can be thankful for the last part.

It Can Be Easy Being Green

It’s true, most Witches are green—not their skins, their lifestyles. Pagans were the original treehuggers and dirt-worshipers, going back thousands of years. There’s a chant we love that sums it up beautifully (we don’t know the origin, but we give thanks to whoever is the source):

May I walk in the Beauty Way,

Dance upon the sacred path,

Always in step

With the rhythms of Mother Earth.

Witches try to live gently on the sacred earth, but precisely how is, again, up to the individual. Some, like the Reclaiming Tradition, see environmental activism as a spiritual calling. Others simply try to live as green as they can, doing all the little things that add up: recycling, using earth-friendly cleaning and paper products like Ecover and Seventh Generation, cutting down (or eliminating) meat from their diets, driving hybrid cars, and more. Not all Witches are perfectly green, but most of us are aware of our impact on the planet and try to reduce it as much as we can. As one chant says, “The earth is our mother, we must take care of her; the earth is our mother, she will take care of us.” It’s a two-way street.

Witches Eat Food

What do Witches eat? Everything. Well, not plush animals or garden hoses, but most kinds of food. Witches can be fruitarians, vegans, vegetarians, omnivores, or carnivores. We range from “I will eat only what organic berry bushes choose to drop into my lap” all the way to “Give meat to Krag, raw meat good.” Wiccans are all over the continuum.

Diet and nutrition are personal choices, but Witches make those choices consciously and have to