To Be Witch

 

      I am currently reading The Spiral Dance by StarHawk, and while I am only in the first couple of chapters it has already given me many things to think about. One such thing is the topic of this essay; what does it mean to be A "Witch"? The Author of this rather compelling book explains part of it so beautifully that I simply must quote her here "The word "witch" carries with it so many negative connotations that many people wonder why we use it at all. Yet to reclaim the word "Witch" is to reclaim our right, as women, to be powerful; as men, to know the feminine within as divine. To be a Witch is to identify with nine million victims of bigotry and hatred to take responsibility for shaping a world in which prejudice claims no more victims. A Witch is a "shaper", a creator who bends the unseen into form, and so becomes one of the Wise, one whose life is infused with Magic."

                This passage was so gripping and so inspiring to me that it sent my thoughts immediately away from what I was reading and into a spiral of my own winding them down in on me. My mind twirling to the depths of who I am with the question: What does it mean to be a Witch? While I feel that I am "Witch" and I have been studying and practicing this path for almost 10 years I must admit that this is a question that has never occurred to me before, and so quite bemused at myself I lit a candle, closed my eyes and allowed my thoughts to wander where they would. I knew this was necessary within the very depths of myself; to seek out MY answer to this question; regardless of what authors say, what the majority consensus is among the pagan community, or even what my friends say. I needed to stop listening to them and hear MY own voice, it called to me and I NEEDED to listen.

                So I began to think about my journey to this point. It all started with a friend who was interested in Tarot, she did a reading for me and sparked my interest; resulting in me buying myself my first deck at 17 years old. I remember keeping them tucked away in my backpack I wasn't sure how my mother would react and I knew they would upset my Great-Grandmother, as understanding as she was she firmly believed that such things would be the ultimate demise of someone's eternal soul, and making her  cry was the last thing I wanted to do EVER!

                The lines and the twists and turns of my path get blurry for quite awhile and I am not sure I could've told you about them even as they were happening, but somehow I got to this point. This moment in time when I stopped to see what my thoughts were, when I heard my own voice calling to me. It is an awe-inspiring feeling to be drawn into yourself; especially for a person like me who has concentrated on understanding everyone around me, completely ignoring my own inner voice.

                Here I sit contemplating what it means to me to be a Witch. It is not an easy path, and yet it is most fulfilling. It is a challenge in many ways, being a witch has challenged me to think beyond that which I was taught as a child and even that which I am told now. It has placed a mirror directly in front of me making me face the good and the bad, accept myself, change things that I feel are outdated, to grow and to learn.

                To Be Witch means learning and accepting yourself: all of you, not as a flawed being but as exactly who you were meant to be,to learn to never accept defeat; each failure is a stepping stone to growth and therefore there are no true failures. To Be Witch means to take control and RESPONDSIBILITY for your life, the good the bad the ugly and everything in between(a daunting task to be sure). To Be Witch means  learning and accepting the fact that you are NEVER alone, you are part of a wonderful web of life that connects you to everyone and everything that exists. It means understanding that in everything there is truth and all roads lead to the same end, it is learning to appreciate the difference and diversity in all humans, animals and inanimate creations alike. To Be Witch means... as put in the most simplest of terms, ACCEPTING LOVE.

                Once this love is accepted it can't help but to be shared. You move at ease with the flow of life; you have your ups and your downs and even your sideways, but there is always movement and nothing is static, and I have found that you come to events more prepared and capable of handling them. It is growth and movement a never-ending journey through life that leaves you with a greater completeness than you have ever felt.

                It means so many things that I guess the best way to put it into words is to that To Be Witch is to be at Ease with your ever-changing self in the ever-changing world around you. At least that is my truth. Your truth may be different from mine and it is equally as valid and that is the beauty of the world.  I want to ask those of my friends who walk paths similar to mine to take the time to spiral into their own souls and ask themselves: What does it mean to you to Be Witch?