A Magickal Life
The greatest and most frustrating aspect about Witchcraft is there is no one way - no hard or fast rules. We are each a unique expression of the Divine and therefore all the magickal wisdom lie within. Mentors will often tell you, "You are your best teacher." You decide the path you want to walk. You are your own Divine Creator.
Witches discover the Craft within them - like a calling. We are drawn to nature, believe we have the power to create and manifest our dreams and see serendipity as natural occurrence. We can be joyful, star-struck faeries, goth souls unafraid of the dark, or nerdy book worms, and many other forms. I choose to spell magick with a K because for me the "g' and "k" are like a Venn Diagram with the "g" representing the ground or Mother Earth and the 'k' representing the sky and Father Sky and where they meet is human, where the magick lives and breathes. Not everyone sees it that way and that's perfectly okay.
Not every Witch casts spells. But those of us who do cast spells, understand that timing is everything. My first book The Wicca Cookbook: Recipes, Ritual and Lore sold out of its first print run in less than two months, appeared in national magazines like Men's Journal and got me on drive time radio programs across the nation. It was October 2000, and I got a cell phone just to field the calls from radio stations and print publications. The book even inspired my own cooking show with SyFy channel, called The Cauldron.
One month after the filming the pilot, the Twin Towers crumbled to the ground and all of America circled the wagons around Christianity. I was on the outside with my flowing cape, pointed hat, and pentacle necklace, as the mother of toddlers.
The only thing to do is persevere. I wrote five more books about Magick and continued. As the momentum for Witchcraft fiddled out by mid 2000s, I begrudgingly returned to the corporate workplace. But I would not go down quietly: my bumper stickers read things like, "Blending in with You Muggles," my fingers glittered with rings, I wore Patchouli to meetings, such as the compliance training at a university, when I asked if Witches were covered in their discrimination policy, much to their dismay.
And now I've got a new book, The Book of Spells: The Magick of Witchcraft. It's exciting and thrilling. Maybe now the timing will be right to let my light shine like the long arms of the Celtic Warrior God Lugh, who we celebrate in August. I live in the quiet of mountains. I no longer have to worry about losing custody my children for being a Witch because we Witches have numbers (plus the kiddos are 20, 22 & 28). We are meant to share our gifts. We must own that Star Shine and remember to express our unique spirit.