Teaching Walking Witch

"Oh goddess protect my loved ones everyday, as they sleep and as they play. Help them always smile bright and keep them safe in your loving light. Protect them from harm and all they fear. For they are the ones that I hold dear. I thank the goddess for helping me. So mote it be." 


I tucked the sachel of dried lavender into my cloak pocket. My cloak is a cocoon of comfort. I feel strength inside it's dark purple-ish blue lining. An unknown symbol of my membership. A uniform proving my official membership. No two members could be from the same town as a way of protecting anonymity.

I had stayed up until everyone was asleep. My Father was snoring and Mother was asleep right next to him. I shared a room with my sibling, but had taken the outside bed near the door. I slowly rolled myself off. We traded beds every once and a while. It's unconventional, but I admit I like it. Tonight, it took some flexibility, but I managed to maneuver out of bed super quietly. A consequence of repeated practice. I was impressed with myself. I'd been caught twice before, but due to my age it was assumed it was for a boy and friends. I accepted this assumption and played into it. Accepting the punishment that followed. It was better to preserve the secrecy. I even avoided the creaky floor board that every house seems to have. I tip toed to the door after grabbing a piece of bread I wrapped in a cloth from the kitchen. I was ready. I also grabbed some herbs before closing the front door so slowly behind me I felt I was in slow motion. The task that would normally take a second, took a minute or so. Once the door was shut, I was outside. I greeted the night, the flat prarie land, and the animals. It is so dark out here. I hear the vicious owl's hoot, probably before catching a helpless prey. Sometimes I followed the owl, to find a rabbit or rodent. If I paid attention I could sometimes get the animal first or at least after if the owl droped it or parts of it. I hated showing up empty handed to our sessions.

The first witches were just women, with seemingly magical powers; Powers to cure and powers to harm at will. However, they were in reality, highly intelligent women with a crafty nature. Their intelligence spaned far and wide in the areas of herbs, plants, foods, fungi, tinctures and recipes encompassing these items. They were often also the most devout religiously. It was only later that they got associated with the devil and evil. Most of the early witches felt God spoke to them, spirits directed them, and the right will would reveal itself. A few who became derailed by power, greed, and misdirected thought directed the future and history of the term. Originally, witches were well versed and well studied, often to a point of making them odd, intimidating and dangerous to the general public in discussions. They could hold their own with men in talks and seemed a step ahead of everyone in knowing what to do. After all, they had to be dangerous, how did they have the time with so much other work to do to become so smart?

In my opinion they were some of the first doctors and the reason society lived on. Many of the herbs they used had anti microbial properties, some even deworming properties, thus safe guarding the preascious water resource. More intimately, allowing them to leave cleaner waste behind, but I don't want to go into that.

Supposedly, the idea of witches came from beer brew houses and the hats the women wore, but don't be fooled, they existed before this. Like all things labeled and magical the real are mixed in, hiding amongst those just carrying the label. I believe both can do important work, but some carry a power behind the work. A power that gives strange abilities and dangerous repercussions if cursed by such a witch. Some have a connection to some other being that connects them to untapped knowledge of past and future. I knew a woman who could say something she wanted to happen and it would.

I'm an official coven member now. No where near as powerful as those I knew of, but smart. An equal with the other women. I am the youngest addition, but the rest of the coven had seen promise in me and took it upon themselves to help me cultivate myself further. Myself and fellow members are a cross between a green witch and a hedge witch. Unless raining, our meetings are held outdoors. We study the stars, planets, seasons and weather. We meet and do plantings, crafts, talk town politics, and occasionally work on spells. However, they are more blessing spells than anything else. It's all kept very positive and educational.

I love the sound of dry grass rustling under my foot steps as I speed walk to my pick up location. The occasional snap of a dry twig or branch interrupts the rustling of grasses. Occasionally startling me. The night makes everything seem scarier when alone. Once I get to the pick up location, Cynthie would drive me the rest of the way to the circle.

By the time I meet Cynthie I'm out of breath from running spooked. Her car is a brand new Mercedes-Benz. It smells like new car. I slide into the leather seat with impeccable stitching.

"A witch who is scared of the dark, I've known a few."

"Me?", I ask. "I'm not", I lie.

"It's okay, alone in the dark should probably spook anyone."

"Ready?", I ask.

"Yes", she begins to drive.

Once we arrive I see the 12 other welcoming faces in the dark, illuminated by battery candles and a couple wax candles properly protected. We are very environmentally smart in our practices. I imagine how I feel about seeing them is like a sailor in the past seeing light from a light house drawing them home. However as we exit the car we feel a tension not usually present.

"Once the circle starts we have some questionable activity to share. It may be nothing, so we ask that no one panic, but it's enough that we feel we should share. After this our circle will commence as usual."

I set up my space in the circle, positioning the elements I brought with me next to me. Due to my age and lack of a high income, many of the crafts are provided to me. This makes it easier for me come to the meetings as well. My family is fine with me practicing when they think it's a phase. It would be a different discussion if they knew I was in a group and more serious about it. I wasn't ready yet. I needed to be more matured and informed. Ready to field the questions they may ask. I volunteer with members when possible to balance my cost, but only when it makes sense as to not draw any unusual attention. There is a stigma around all of these practices.

Joy was the last to arrive. This was understandable considering she lived the farthest from todays meeting. Joy was a bubbly yet intelligent woman, fitting of her name. The bubbliness hides her serious wit at first. After one discussion, a person would never be fooled again. I left my first talk with her thinking I need to study for our next talk. Yet, I still wanted to talk with her.

"Fellow coven members, there may be a imminent threat attacking our coven members. Someone may be trying to eliminate our members. May be it is a religious group, a miss informed individual, a family member or friend, etc. We just don't know at this point. We also don't know how our coven was discovered. We don't want to jump to conclusions, but there is suspicious actions happening to a few of our members right now. One member has had her business lease revoked. Another is having legal fight with a mortgage technicality. And, yet another has lost a job for what appears to be a bogus made up reason. Some one seems to be attacking our livelihoods and systematically attacking us. Be vigilant in reporting any other actions as insignificant as it may be. Over the next couple weeks, we as a group need to decide if we want to go public and invite others into viewing our practices. Let people meet us to help eliminate any fear or misinformation. I know this makes us vulnerable, but it might be are only option. We don't need to decide tonight. Now that, that is out of the way, let's begin."

Nalia is the longest held member in the group and one of the founders. It's hard not to respect her. She is considered the glue of the circle.

"My fellow members, if you would please join hands and begin the opening blessing protection spell.

"With the power of the universe coursing threw our veins, lift the veil from our eyes going forward. Please cleanse this space for the highest good of my family. We release into the smoke all energies that do not serve us...."

The flame burst bright as she adds a special kindling to it. By the end of the spell our arms are raised. We finish with are arms embracing the sky. We lower are arms and slowly make our way into a sitting position. Allowing a moment of reflection before we move on to our next planned activity. By the end of our night our bottoms and knees wore water stains. The soggy field made slurping sucking sounds as we crossed it to leave, but none of us cared. Home always provides a warming of the heart.

After a couple months, we all experienced some sort of irritation. Mine came in the form of a tip off to my parents about my cloak. I came home to a brown cloak. Next my mom removed the hood and shortened it. I asked her why she hadn't just bought me a shall if she wanted me to have one. I showed no outward emotion about it. My parents seemed fine letting this bit of gossip go after that. My circle members got me a new one and kept it for me. They brought it to every meeting for me.

Once everyone had been messed with in some way we couldn't keep the blinders on. We had to decide what to do. Tensions were obscuring our work. Witches need focus. We conducted a few truth spells and protection spells at our meetings in future months. Nalia explained how the time to make a decision was now. No one was excited to come out of the shadows, but no one could think of a better way. One member brought up using a spell, but it was one we all had taken an oath to avoid using. Magic can be more powerful than expected and in emotional times, it needs to be used even more cautiously. Sarah's suggestion really pushed the rest of us into our decision. We would go public.

It would be a relief to be able to share this world with family and friends. It would also be nice to be able to gather outside of our circle. To be able to disregard secrecy. This is all teetering on the principle that we are accepted. Would we really be so far outside others normal that we would be feared and denied a right to exist. Could we make everyone see we are so much more than our stereotypes. We would need to avoid common platitudes to win over and sway public opinion while discovering who was trying to eliminate our coven. 





Sent from my Galaxy