The green way is a peaceful way. I am a pacifist by nature. I only fight righteous battles; one of justice, sovereignty, courage and loyalty. I only raise my spear in the name of those things I swore to Crow I’d uphold for my honor and Hers. Injustice is always around, it is is the legacy of our existence and there’s little we can truly do. It’s the balance of …
Eros may find pleasure in pricking me with his arrow of unrequited infatuation, but I don’t mind too much. The power of closure and letting go is a powerful kind of magic, but the power to rebuild is even more powerful. Though jilted, the heart still …
Love, is a powerful kind of magic. Lust is too. When it comes to matters of the heart, the witch is the historic expert on how to seduce through all kinds of means. But not all love magic is about getting love, or fulfilling carnal desires. A lot charms are oriented towards an equally important purpose: closure. The pain of loss is so great sometimes that your entire soul can ache with the pain of it. It will resonate down to your soul, turn your stomach and make every memory choke the beat of your heart.
The sad, painful, pitiful truth is that …
It is said that your perfect nature can be found in the stars; that understanding one’s celestial self and the spirits that dwell within their ruling planets and stars would have a true knowledge of themselves, and thus be enlightened among the lowly. I never really took much stock in astrology and the star mysticism so popular among esoteric circles. I guess I always sort of didn’t see how the stars could have anything to do with us. To be truthful, I still don’t. I don’t buy astrology as a predictive source, but I certainly find it fun and sometimes eerie in its ability to match up so well with some people. Despite being rather unsold on the subject, I admit I am one of those people who’s natal chart and birthday are freakishly, disturbingly well matched to their personality. I love the stars, because I love astrophysics and interstellar sciences, so despite a lifetime of occultism, I never paid much attention to natal charts or the personal influences of cosmic entities. Since I’ve been spending more time with people who do study astrology, particularly my new friend Dev, it got me curious about what it all says about me.
Spring couldn’t get here any faster; I’m desperate for some fresh and raw materials. I have a million new brews to ferment, incense to roll, herbs to macerate, essences to distill… And I’m going to need a lot of wild materia for what I plan to achieve by …
Some of what I gather is going to become spirit food, made by hand from the herbs I was compelled and directed to gather. The flowers all have very specific and unique properties and are all under the guardianship of the great old mountain god, Takoma, who makes the waters that feed the valley meadows where I hunt at the base. The mountain is home to deer gods and river goddesses, to bear spirit and eagle. Powerful place, deserving of respect, I collect my herbs from the riverside and old-growth moss covered wetlands where the grandfather waters provide all the nourishment of those who forage in the shadow of the peaks.
My last entry on the three different spells I was working on at the time got me thinking about the roots of those magics and how even though they are all spells, they’re ruled by a different school of practice that is often the singular focus of devotion by some witches, myself included. Even though two of those charms featured a form of black and red magic, they were still done in my way; the green way. This got me thinking on the different kinds of paths that exist, sometimes simply categorized into good or bad, high or low, ceremonial or natural, but sometimes they are categorized by their intention and the practices which benefit those intentions. In traditional witchcraft, this can be construed as the separation of black magic from green, red and *white* magic. I don’t know if “magic” is the right word, I never really know how to describe what I think is going on here, but I will use the term magic to mean one’s spiritual and mystical influence in the world and upon other living things.
A busy week for a witch can mean suddenly needing to perform healing prayers, rites and charms for a grandfather diagnosed with a serious illness. The second I left the hospital I went straight for the best magic I know, the kind I was raised around; healing medicine. Mine is very different from mi Tia’s, different from my moms, from my various aunts; I’m a green sorcerer, that’s what I go to. Well, gramps needs healing, and all I can do to help on a spiritual level is what I know I’m good at– and I know I’m a damn fine witch. So I get witching; stuffing herbs, baking the clay dolly for its work, catching the right moment when …
Now is the darkyear. I observed the change-of-suns as I have for the last decade, spending my time meditating on the exchange of light to dark and dark to light twice a year, marveling at the glory and wonder of the seasonal changes, making exciting plans and grieving what was lost. An Cailleach, the hag of winter, the stoney blue-skinned, brittle-boned owl in the frost, carved from darkness, clutching in her hands the cold sun, she rides now.
