How to Become a Witch (15 page)

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.

Chapter 5

I Am a Witch at Every Hour
Witchcraft as a Way of Life

I
n 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):

M
ay 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 find a way to square them with the Wiccan Rede: “An ye harm none, do as ye will.” (More on the Rede in chapter 7.)

More and more of the Craft are facing up to agricultural and food issues that affect the planet. Some Witches have always favored a diet that’s healthy, organic, sustainable, and local. Now many more are thinking hard about food and making healthier, sustainable choices.

It’s not always possible to have a perfect diet, but it’s always possible to improve it. Within an omnivore diet, for example, there are choices you can make:

• Free-range chickens and eggs
  
• Grass-fed beef or bison instead of corn-fed
  
• Less red meat, more fish and poultry
  
• Fewer processed foods and carbohydrates
  
• Less salt, sugar, and high-fructose corn syrup
  
• More food grown or raised locally
  
• Plants without dangerous pesticides and fertilizers,
  animals without artificial growth hormones
  

Vegetarians, vegans, and fruitarians can buy produce that is organic and locally grown; it’s even better if you can grow some of your own. A good reference for anyone who wants to eat more intelligently is
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
by Michael Pollan (Penguin, 2006) or Pollan’s
In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
(Penguin, 2008). A good guide for becoming a vegan gradually is Alicia Silverstone’s
The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet
(Rodale Books, 2009).

Before meals, you may want to give thanks. For example:

T
hank you, O Lady of the Fields, Lord of the Forests,

For the Earth’s bountiful harvest and this meal before us;
Thank you, spirits of those living things which now nourish us,
To our health and strength, in the service of the gods. Blessed be!

Or this version, which children will enjoy:

G
ive thanks to Mother Gaia,

Give thanks to Father Sun,

Give thanks for the fruits of the garden where

The mother and the father are one. Blessed be!

Housing
No Gingerbread

Where do Witches live? Anywhere—except gingerbread cottages. Many Witches dream of land in the country, living close to nature, planting an organic garden, and perhaps living in a communal setting. For most, this is not the reality. Witches live in cities, in suburbs, and in rural areas. It’s not about where we live, it’s about how we relate to the environments we do live in.

A wise man once said, “If you want to save the planet, stay put.” He wasn’t talking about cutting back business and vacation travel so much as choosing a long-term home, then learning to know and love that place, and living in harmony with the environment there. People who frequently change residence sometimes have no particular relationship with the natural world; their apartments, offices, commuting routes, and social connections become their world.

Sometimes life makes us go somewhere else to live. But even if you have to move often, you can still create a relationship with the environment you’re in while you are there. Be there. Be conscious. Sit, walk, “dance the land.” Notice where the sun rises and sets, and the moon. Pay attention to the seasons. Notice the plants, animals, and birds who share your neighborhood. Take photos often. Get to know the natural cycles. It’s about consciously being in your environment instead of sleepwalking through it.

If you have the chance to build your own home, do it thoughtfully and in harmony with the land. Build with local materials, whether that’s cordwood, adobe, or stone. Consider rainwater harvesting, especially in arid climates. Control erosion and conserve the soil.

If you move into an existing home, consider what kind of retrofitting makes sense. Add a sunroom or greenhouse for passive solar energy? Insulate everything better? Install photovoltaic panels? Look into your local utility’s green energy program; it may cost a bit more to get alternative energy (wind, hydroelectric, solar), but it lets the utility know we want our energy to come from green sources. Do an energy audit to learn how you can reduce your energy consumption, and use Energy Star appliances.

When your home is created or re-created as you wish it, then extend your senses. What watershed are you in? What geological formations surround you? What affects air quality? What is the wildlife like? How has it changed in recent times? What is the historical climate pattern, and how is it changing?

Become an advocate for the ecosystem where you live. Find out what the environmental issues are and who’s involved. Are there chapters of the Sierra Club, the Nature Conservancy, the Audubon Society, the local “Friends of Whatever River”? Join with others who care about the earth. The organizations listed in appendix C serve environmental causes and are national or international in scope. Each organization has contact information and the Charity Navigator rating, which rates organizational efficiency and financial health.

Holey stones

Some stones have a hole naturally weathered through them by wind or water, or created by fossilized worm tunnels. These stones are called hag stones, Odin stones, or holey stones. Witches will sometimes tie a red ribbon through the hole of smaller ones and use them to protect a home or barn, or wear a very small one as a protective amulet. One legend says that if you peek through the hole, you will be able to see the land of Faery. These stones are most effective if you find one yourself or receive one as a gift.

A House Blessing

Every home needs ritual cleansing and blessing, especially when you first move in. The former residents may not have left ghosts hanging around, but they surely left their energy imprint. Clear it out, bless the house, and put up wards, or protective amulets. Clearing energy is simple if it is done before you move in. Don’t bring your stuff in until after the space has been cleansed and blessed. If you’ve already moved in, do a thorough housecleaning first, then work around your furniture.

To cleanse the house of unwanted energies, bless it, and put up wards, you will need the following:

• A medium-sized bowl filled with pure water. Add three pinches of salt to it.
  
• An incense stick or an incense holder and incense. Don’t light it yet.
  
• A feather.
  
• Pieces of rose quartz (to allow only love in) or hematite (to keep negativity out) or both, two per outside door. (These are the wards.)
  

Go through your home, opening every door, closet, and cupboard. Starting at the front door, pick up the bowl of water and walk clockwise through the house, keeping the wall close on your left side, in and out of every room. Sprinkle saltwater every two feet or so (and into the closets and cupboards and on the windows and doors), saying, “With earth and water, I cleanse this home so that it may become a place of comfort and love.” Say it over and over as you go through the house. When you return to the front door, end with, “So mote it be!”