Living Magically: The Life of a Witch in the 21st Century

For me, living as a witch means walking my talk. I performed my self-initiation sky clad in the forest with my best friend beside me (and his dog to watch for bears!). I promised to the Goddess the God and myself that I would live my life with truth, honor, respect and grace.

As I performed this rite I felt the enormity of what I was promising. The connection of ourselves to each other and to the body of our Mother, the earth is the basis of our existence. I could no longer look away when I saw trash on the street. I could not throw away that plastic container with a moldy, living, breathing pile of coleslaw within it. I made a promise to preserve the earth and to do everything within my power to assist Her healing and cherishing every part of Her.

After an hour of casting our circle, meditating, and speaking our intentions out loud, it was time to open the circle and return to our normal lives. As we drove away in silence the realization that my normal life was gone forever began to form.

How Being a Witch Has Changed My Life

I could no longer live life in the usual way. I had taken on responsibilities and promises that could not be broken. Integrity played an even greater part in my life.

Now, years later, I have kept my promises to the Goddess and the God. I reduce by purchasing items that have smaller or no packaging. I reuse whatever I can and my children make many crafts out of yesterday’s clean garbage. I recycle everything allowable in my community. We mend the holes in our jeans with patches of material from clothing that is too small and too worn-out to pass down to someone else. A compost box creates wonderfully dark soil out of left over vegetables.

I plant trees and flowers. By supporting organic growers of livestock, fruit and vegetables there are less chemicals sprayed onto our soil. By conserving water and electricity we can make a difference. Even using cloth diapers and breast feeding my children has supported the earth by lowering the amount of waste.

I pass these values and my beliefs to my children and I teach them that every act, no matter how small, makes an impact on the earth. We must honor every living thing and the earth is a living thing. Donate time and money to charities that protect wildlife and nature because without them, where would we be?

I walk my talk. I make sacrifices and I do extra because I believe that if we all do whatever we can, and sometimes even a little more, then there will be fish left in the ocean, birds in the skies and even bears in the forest for the next sky clad, self initiating witch standing in the middle of the forest making promises to God, Goddess, All-That-Is.