Why a blog, and why now? Because I’ve come to believe sustainability is one of the biggest challenges to being a witch. In my life, the issue of sustainability crops up a lot, and I want to explore the issues, the challenges, what insight I find, what insights others share.
Sustainable body – It is different for a witch to walk in the world, and do the work we do. I have committed to remaining open to what happens in the world, to the earth, to living beings. And like many witches and other healers, I’m intuitive and empathic, and my body feels and holds the impact of what happens in the world. It also holds the impact of the ritual, aspecting and energy work that’s part of the magic I and my communities do. So I’m interested in how I can do the healing and magical work I do, and sustain my body.
Sustainable spirit – In my experience, those who live authentic lives challenge others. To me, authenticity is part and parcel of what the witch is, what she does, the impact he has. Even when she is solitary and has no intention at all of being noticed and no intention of his actions having impact, it is the witch’s very nature to be about personal power through authenticity. That challenges others; and often, I think the witch pays a price for that challenging. In truth, I think it had a lot to do with getting us burned, in times past. How do we sustain our spirits, when our work requires we are authentic and remain open to the world, psychically or visibly?
Sustainable communities – I need community to grow my magic, and sustain myself. A shadow of the witch’s love of freedom and personal authority is that, in the absence of rules, organization, structure around community, there’s also the very real issue of a single, charismatic leader whose charisma builds community, and whose personal dynamics, in time, take the community member, or the entire community, down. So many witches I know have chosen to be solitary because of the unhealthy leadership dynamics they’ve encountered. There are also issues of support, and commitment, as levels of commitment to community ebb and flow. Since my own path is communal, for me to be sustained, it’s vital that my communities be sustainable too.
Each month, I’ll be posting about sustainability for the witch’s body, his spirit, her community. By “witch” I mean anyone who self-identifies as a witch. I’m not much interested in a definition of the word – I am interested in how we can sustain what we are, and what we love, to do the work we’re called to do in the world.
I hope you’ll return from time to time to see if there’s something here that you find sustains you, too.
