Saturday, August 11, 2018

What Type of "Witch" are You?

What Type of Witch are You?

Moon witch? Forest Witch? Bone Witch? Which witch are you? I was thinking about the types of magic, the types of lore, and the types of devotion earth-honoring and deities-relating folks engage in. I think of them as moon, forest, and bone domains. Inhabited by Moon, Forest, and Bone witches. Then I realized that I’d developed this idea before… for a game!

Moon, Forest, or Bone Witch? Which are you?
The latest D&D players handbook includes the “Warlock” class (a class is a sort of profession for your player). Anyone who has been in Paganism or earth-honoring spirituality probably knows that the word warlock means oathbreaker and we usually use ‘witch’ instead. (Yes, there are male witches.) The D&D warlock also is described as using “pact magic” which I imagine is reminiscent of the “pact with the devil” ideas made up by the medieval witch hunters.

So I created an alternative D&D class called Witch. As I mapped out the skills the witch would have I realized that I could easily conceive of three types of witches. Astral, Green, and Blood.

Astral Witches

"Astral Witch"
Don Crosby (Merlin)
by Artist Douglas Baulch CC 3.0
Astral witches are tuned into the planetary movements, the cycles of the seasons and the rotation of the earth. They derive their game powers from sunrises and sunsets, moon phases and astronomical events. They might be tarot card readers, astrologers, temple priest(esse)s or open ritual leaders. Moon witches, Sun witches, or Star witches are tuned into time and able to navigate by the stars. Astral witches are sometimes called wizards or sages and are wise about the timeless aspects of living - ethics, meaning, the rise and fall of civilizations. You find astral witches in urban contexts.

Green Witches

George Casely uses a hazel twig to find water
 by Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer,
 IWM Non-Commercial License
Green witches derive their game powers from plants and the earth. They have a relationship (similar to druids in the game) to the land where they live and move. Like hedge witches of old, they can be healers, students of weather and growing things, and good cooks. Villagers seek out earth or land witches for help with gardens, children and love. You’ll find green witches affiliated with rural communities.

Blood Witches

Last Tuvan shaman.
Taken 1 week before her death.
by David Baxendale. CC BY-ND 2.0 
Blood witches derive their game powers from their own (or others) lives, bodies, bones and blood. They, like ancient shamans, interact with the ancestors of a person and the spirits of animals. Like tribal priests throughout the world, they are wise about death, about the inner world, and are advisers to clans and tribes. Blood and bone witches, or shamans, might be birth midwives and death midwives and facilitate small community ritual. Blood witches affiliate with peoples, tribes, and families.

Finding Your Type

Did you recognize any witches in your own life in these descriptions? Unlike D&D, in real life we can experience the wisdom of any of these three domains. We can embrace the spirit of Astral witches and work the magic of prophecy, warning people of the ethical errors of empire. As midwives, village healers, and caretakers of the community we can work the magic of herbal healing, whether it be through a cup of white willow bark tea for a headache or a cup of tea and conversation for a heartache. Like shamans we can work the magic of soul retrieval, reminding the community of their best selves, calling folks in, and singing the songs that remind us of our ancestors’ gifts. 

All of us can do community ritual honoring the changing of the seasons, celebrating birth and mourning a death together and we can do private candle magic ceremonies to mark our own life milestones, aspirations, bondings, and bindings.

Image composite. Free from Pixabay
My spiritual type has shifted over the years. I teach a class on spiritual types that takes into account your Enneagram type, MBTI and other factors. I used to exclusively identify with the green witch These days I’m resonating with the astral and blood witches as well. It might be age related, life phase related: moving from the immediate and practical, to the concerns of the public sphere, and finally, to the concerns of legacy and heritage. It might be that someone is authentically called to one type. Certainly I’ve seen young blood witches and old green witches. Or it can be something someone dances through all your life.

You might relate the astral witches to the priests and prophets, the green witches to the cunning men and cunning women, and the blood witches to the shamanic practitioners.
Was this enough to get you curious about which witch is alive in your soul right now?
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Reverend Amy helps givers who are feeling disconnected or depleted to uncover and use their spiritual superpowers so you can conspire with divine love and build the world you dream of in flow and abundance. Learn more at http://amybeltaine.info, Book Here.

Monday, August 06, 2018

With Great Magic Comes Great Responsibility

Magical

Have you ever been so amazed, and overwhelmed (in a good way) that you said “It was magical, I got shivers!”? Looking back, each moment I said that, it was a moment of change in my consciousness, and change in my life. A moment of consequence!

In the stories and myths of our culture magic, or super-powers, are usually accompanied by a consequence. The Avengers are blamed for what goes wrong and treated with suspicion. The X-Men are persecuted. In a video game, using a power draws down your “mana” or life-force.


The magical sword Excalibur, that made Arthur king when he pulled it from the stone had power that came with terrible consequences. Harry Potter’s magical powers came with ever increasing responsibility. In the Movie, Frozen, Queen Elsa struggles to accept her powers, and it is not until she accepts both her power AND the responsibilities that come with them, that they become a gift instead of a burden. As Stan Lee, the creator of Spiderman, said “with great power, must also come, great responsibility.”

Responsibility


Composite from Disney film "Frozen"
The responsibility has to do with being in community. In the movie Frozen, Elsa’s powers were destructive when she was trying to suppress them: she made her entire kingdom sink into an eternal winter! Then, after she ran away she let go of the constraints she put on herself and ‘let it go”, but she cut herself off from her community. She needed love to invite her back into the community. When the community welcomed her, she accepted her responsibility and could use her powers in service to love and justice.

We are responsible for the things that we do. Running away does not fix that. But suppressing your own awesomeness also doesn't fix anything. You have a superpower, you probably have a couple. You are full of magic, I don't know what your magic is, but I bet your friends do... We each need our community, and they need our whole selves.

Folk Religions


Pagan stories and traditions describe the power that comes from the earth as magic, indigenous traditions describe the power that arises from a tribe and ancestors as magic. As we learn from myth and tradition we all have access to some of that magic power.

In UU congregations we usually don’t talk about spiritual matters in terms of power. But in the Pagan and earth-relating worlds we talk about spiritual power. The Aborigine of Australia, and the Shinto teachings speak of the dangers and responsibility of working with the power of spirit. Sufi, especially Dervish, spirituality speaks to the overwhelming and transformative experience of feeling the divine flow through and within us. Psychologists tell of the great power that spiritual awareness yields.

Creating Change


artists interpretation of creation and the milky way
There are many definitions of the word magic. One definition I like because it is compatible with what anthropologists learn from cultures that practice magic: Magic is creating change by connecting with the energies of nature and community. Some people go to the wilderness to recharge. Some go to the ocean to heal. We all need to mourn in community and celebrate marriages and milestones with community. When we look into a clear night sky and experience the vastness of space… we feel something… it's magic.

Around the world and throughout human history Indigenous traditions have tapped into this great spiritual power.

Candle Magic

Folk Religions have been powerful spiritual forces for a very long time. And Wicca, though it is not a true folk religion, has demonstrated striking strength. When something has been so important to human community for so long, so transformative, there must be jewels of wisdom within - Jewels we can learn from!

For instance, I think folk religions’ ability to talk about power, the connection to nature, and the ability to create ecstatic group ritual are fabulous jewels we grow from, individually, and collectively.

One practice that helps spiritual practitioners to grow and transform is candle magic. We light a candle to remember a person in Joys and Sorrows or to represent the family blessings at a wedding. We are practicing candle magic here today because we used the chalice lighting to help us focus on being here together.

Another spiritual practice is to dedicate yourself to the study of a divine aspect, like a god or goddess or mythical character. I spent a year meditating on the myth of Inanna’s pilgrimage to the underworld. I chose the Babylonian goddess Inanna as a way to recover from a very bad, horrible, no good year, when I experienced a lot of loss. The poetry, myths and rituals of Inanna losing everything and then returning (with a little help from her friends) helped me make sense of these losses and to rebuild my life and my power.



Magic has Consequences


Let’s go back to that word Magic. The definition of Magik, among Pagans is usually: “The art of changing consciousness at will.”

One of the consequences of doing the work of magic is that it can change reality like it did for me. If Magik is the art of transforming consciousness at will, what does consciousness create? Well, Schoedinger says that consciousness creates reality. So Schroedinger’s Cat would say that Magik has consequences in reality!

I want to be be very clear here. Ritual, prayer, candle magic, and all the rest is not putting in a request to the divine piggy bank for a specific pay-out. When I pray for world peace I’m not expecting Big Daddy in the Sky to go “POOF, OK, you got it.” When people paint themselves blue because that is their team’s colors, they are changing themselves, not actually making their sports team win. The only people who can do THAT magic trick are the players on the teams. 

I’m asking, like Susan B. Anthony did, to pray with my feet, my hands, my voice, my life. I’m asking to change ME so that I can change the world. I'm asking, now that you know you can do magic, how will YOU change the world?

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Reverend Amy helps Givers and Justice-Seekers to uncover and use their spiritual superpowers through individual mentoring, speaking, retreats, workshops and rites of passage. Learn more at http://AmyBeltaine.info, or Book Here.