Welcome back for our next edition of Season of the Witch, from our Witches I Love series featuring witchy women with unseen powers and beautiful insight on owning their inner Witch.
I am producing this series with the intention to be witness to a conversation that I feel is really important, in this time when owning our own powers and using them for good is of utmost and dire potency.
These women are ordinary, extraordinary humans just like each of you who are read this today.
Meet Siddal. She is a woman, a mother, a partner, a ceramic artist, a hairstylist and a Witch (to name just a few of the many things that she is.)
We met when we worked together as hairstylists. We bonded over motherhood and cooking and our partnerships and our families and all those little things that are shared in the back room of a feminist hair salon.
Siddal and I started sitting together monthly in a full moon circle with a small group of women last year, a tradition which started when the Summer turned to Fall but faded away with the Holidays. We are still working on getting the group together again. It will happen, and in the meantime, I observe the full and new moons with a new sense of purpose and intention. The circle remains unbroken.
What Siddal brought to the group was a deep knowledge and reverence for the Craft itself. Siddal comes from a traditional and disciplined practice of Wicca, which she has studied for years both independently and within the structure of a coven. She weaves this earth-based spirituality and tool-kit for divination very beautifully into her daily life…….Naturally, as a woman who has really inspired my path, I asked her if she would take part in this interview series.
Today, we thank Siddal for sharing her experience, and we hope that her words enrich your life and further empower your journey, whatever the path may be.
What does the term Witch mean to you?
I came across the acronym W.I.T.C.H many years ago…Women In Total Control of Herself. Sums it up pretty well! A witch knows herself and strives to harnesses her power in all ways. Her shadow side and her sun lit side. She loves, protects and works in harmony with the Earth. She respects the balance of nature and acknowledges, embraces, and celebrates the cycles of the Earth and Nature. She celebrates the Goddess within herself and others. She is someone who doesn’t let stuff just happen to her. She is not passive and allows that the universe gives her lessons but doesn’t just sit back and waits…she takes action.
How does one know that one was a Witch?
For me it was something always under the surface, a sound, a mummer …when I finally recognized that part of myself it was like a chord was struck. I felt in harmony with the Earth and Elements….a coming home. I think it is different for everyone. Don’t be afraid to be quiet and listen to those inner voices. They are so wise!
Intention and manifestation
Thought and action. But learning how they influence each other and how to focus is key. Your intention needs to be so clear and focused to manifest. For me prayer, spellwork, intention and manifestation are all one. Spellwork has been helpful because having concrete items or props (stones, herbs, food, candles) to focus my intentions helps me to stay clear and grounded. Also helps to keep that focus present so your higher consciousness can do its work. I’ve had many experiences with spells coming to fruition in amazing ways….. my husband was called forth from a spell in high school! I wrote my intentions for my perfect partner, with a long list of wants and needs…. we started dating the next year. I told him about the spell, he was skeptical! But we have been together for 18 years now. Even during our difficulties I remind myself that there is something to learn. I manifested this relationship and I asked for someone who would challenge me! Caveat- This was not a love spell. It was not directed at a particular person…I do not believe it is ok to mess with some ones free will. My coven once did work for a friend who asked for help. She was pregnant and was torn about what to do about it.… not an ideal situation for her. We focused our intentions on helping her with decisions, keeping her safe and the best outcome for all involved. She ended up miscarrying a few weeks later. Although a very difficult thing for her she did believe it was the best thing at that time. We did more work afterwards on healing, understanding, and forgiveness.
How do you think a coven is magnified in power to an individual Witch?
Greater numbers = greater power. Laws of attraction…like attracts like. When I practice solitary I feel empowered but when I was in a coven or practicing with others I can really feel the magnitude of our collective power. It’s a physical thing, the power. A buzzing, thrumming, intensity. It’s magnificent! If all of the women in the world could focus their power together we would be unstoppable!
Where would you direct a women who is interested in exploring her inner Witch?
I started with books, Im a voracious reader and really feel connected to books. Starhawks Spiral Dance was one of the first books I read that wasn’t mythology or fable. It made so much sense to me. Things started clicking after that. Really any of her books are wonderful. And if you are a fan of fiction her novel, The Fifth Sacred Thing is so powerful!! Other authors I’ve enjoyed –Scott Cunningham, Merlin Stone- When God was a Women, The Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler….
But also learn to sit with yourself. Meditate under the Full and New Moon. Start paying attention to nature and the cycles of the Earth. Find the quiet in your life and honor it.
How do facets of our souls effect the process of owning our power?
I think some women shy away from owning their power because of a fear of the shadow side….but you can’t have light without dark. Balance is so important and needs to be considered with every intention. Delve into your shadow side, without knowing it you cannot be balanced.
Why do you think it is so hard for some of us to own our own power?
Partly the way most women are raised in our society…I’d like to think it is changing…but the fear that so many of us have and experience creates a block to access our power. Strong women are not looked kindly upon. You are a bitch if you speak up, a whore if you show any comfort in your own sexuality….
If we can learn to deal with our own fear then we can come in to our power.
Start small, work on yourself. Then you can start to make changes in the bigger world.
My personal Witch journey
I was always drawn to myths and legends, stories of Gods and Goddesses. I read two books in elementary school that really influenced me- the Egypt Game and Juniper. In the Egypt Game the act of creating altars and asking the Gods and Goddesses for wisdom and guidance spoke to me. It felt more real and connected than the Christianity I was raised in….and Juniper was all about a women in pre-Christian Europe. A witch who worked with herbs and was a healer. I think those two books helped set me on my path. I read a ton of mythology from all different cultures. In middle school and high school I started reading about other religions and found Pagan chat rooms on Prodigy (early internet chat). Others I spoke with started turning me on to Starhawk and other authors and I dedicated myself to the Goddess in high school. I was very private about this…not ready to share with others. My folks were pretty nervous but my mother tried to understand and read some books as well. She still doesn’t understand….she was raised Catholic and that resonates strongly with her. In college I was invited to be in an Alexandrian Coven. My High Priestess helped me work on much of my fear and helped me learn to focus my power. But I eventually felt that Alexandrian Wicca was too structured for me and left. I started a more eclectic coven with friends and that felt more in tune with what I was striving for. When I finished college and moved across the country I started practicing solitary again. Now I have been working on putting together a women’s group that can meet regularly. Hard thing to do! Making the regular time to meet can be difficult for everyone with families and life. But I believe it is so important, especially now, for women to join together and share and focus their power and energies. Our world need us!
