To the woods, for nightshade, coneflower, cornflower, pears, apples, vervain, mullein and old clay mud from under the rotting pines. The flowers bust form every corner of the meadow, a blue ocean in between islands of ancient broom bushes, and I bless every herb at the altar of the ancestors, witches and old gods.
Author Archives: Via Hedera
Luck.
Soul-stice.
I spent the Solstice high in the mountains, communing with the luminary sol, the light-bringer, the first fire. It lit a torch deep down that was sleeping, some part of me that was tucked away over the winter and unable to shake the frost until just then.
Reflecting on the Nature of Things
Sickle
The symbol of green witchcraft, of the luminary mysteries into which the green witch must initiate, of one’s oath to honor the land and the dead-within-it- is the sickle. I chose the sickle crossed with the stang as the symbol of my tradition (the stang was to symbolize the commitment I’ve made to the practice) to be used among me and those I’ve worked with. Most other green witches I come across have some variation of the saturnalian blade included in the symbolism of their path, often intersecting with Hekate’s keys (their dedication to pharmakeia), or with the caduceus to honor their commitment to healing.
The Classical Arts of the Witch
She can heal, prophecy and predict, conjure up the spirits of the dead, can spell bind you, turn you into a hare or wolf, make you find treasure, and most fatal gift of all, cast a love charm over you there is no escaping. Jules Michelet, La Sorcière
Prophecy,
Magic in the American Fabric
My family is typical, very American in that we are diverse and representing of every demographic that makes this country the culture it is. My ancestors migrated from region to region all over this place, collecting the folk magic and superstitions of the cultures we encountered, adopted or descended from. We are a blend of the typical American bloodlines; various kinds of European, Native American, African and Latin American. My generation, my siblings and I, are the culmination of hundreds of years of immigration, adoption, homesteading and assimilating on this land. From my family and my own experience moving along the West Coast; being raised by Southerners in the Southwest and later the Pacific Northwest, I have developed a kind of strange and intimate relationship with regional forms of folk-magic in America– things I never really thought about as being cross-cultural syncretic religious practices turned out to have heavy and deep roots, and I’ve dedicated most of my life to researching the roots of magic and witchcraft through my family.
Love Magic: Cupids and Corpses
Some love charms are simple; binding two dolls together with red and white rope, sowing hemp seeds in a churchyard, soaking your lover’s socks in whiskey and spitting the shot (simple, and icky). Some love charms however, are, to put it simply, gruesome.
Witches in Hekate’s Garden
What makes a witch a witch? Is it someone selling their soul to a devil, or is it a pact with the spirit world? Are witches shamans or sorcerers? All of those things appear to be true. There is a diverse world of witches out there, all of them…
A Green Witch’s Textile Art and Love of Dyes
A few days ago while skimming through my normal routs for anything related to herbs, herb dye and plant textiles (all of which I utilize on a spiritual level for my charm and talisman work as a practitioner of folk arts and agrarian magic) I ran across a wonderful variety of blogs both old and new that have other pagan plant-textile enthusiasts and even one recent article in The New York Times about how DYI plant textile art is coming back! I’m happy to not be alone in this art; it’s something I developed an interest in watching my art teacher Missa teach classes on how to tie-dye fabric when I was about 8 years old.
A Green Witch’s Textile Art and Love of Dyes
A few days ago while skimming through my normal routs for anything related to herbs, herb dye and plant textiles (all of which I utilize on a spiritual level for my charm and talisman work as a practitioner of folk arts and agrarian magic) I ran across a wonderful variety of blogs both old and new that have other pagan plant-textile enthusiasts and even one recent article in…