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Secret life of modern-day witches


Still Waters

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It is 400 years since the Pendle witch trials led to 10 people being hanged for witchcraft. But do modern witches still suffer prejudice?

He has carved out a successful career as an employment lawyer.

But the 38-year-old, who is sometimes known as Myrddin, also takes part in activities which he prefers to keep secret.

For Myrddin is the head of a witches' coven in Lancashire.

He said: "We don't do anything sinister like Devil worship and we don't make human or animal sacrifices.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...ashire-19211852

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Nice article, but why did they have the picture of the women in black with a black flower. It paints a picture we are Goths. Most witches you would never know unless they are wearing jewelry or are wearing ritual garb. I do run into the store in ritual garb for some last minute thing and get caught as a witch. I really get some looks, mostly form Mexicans. I also have a lot of what I call marry meet moments when your sitting next to someone and you see a piece of jewelry or someones says something only witches say. When I did jury duty for some odd reason three of us ended up sitting next to each other not knowing until we noticed our jewelry symbols. I think there are more witches out there than people realize. We are growing in great numbers. Our festivals get bigger every year.

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Yes, we do. On the other hand, when I told some Jehovah's Witnesses at my door that I was a witch, they got a terrified look on their faces, and backed away from me, opened the gate, and scurried down the street throwing frightened looks over their shoulders, so there are compensations. BTW, as long as I lived at that address they never came back. An open declaration to born-agains works the same way. It's magic!

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I'm not sure if I'm too thrilled with the way the article worked out. The pic of the chick all in black is probably part of the reason why people look funny at witches- that odd combo of tree hugger and goth usually puts people off.

I kind of didn't like the way witch and pagan was thrown together either. Kind of made it sound almost like all pagans are witches, or all witches are pagans, and that is not the case. I'm a pagan, and I'm not a witch. I'm not a druid, shaman, or of wicca either.

Just out of curiosity Darkwind... Why would you be caught out in public in your ceremonial vestments? Doesn't that screw up your cleansing? Or do you cleanse before? I realize that might be a moot point if you regularly travel to somewhere else for ceremonies. I'm fortunate in that I've always been able to practice at home and so don't have to worry about that. The few times I have traveled, it was as a participant rather than a practitioner so I didn't really have to worry then either.

I can't imagine walking into a store or anything else mundane like that right before doing something either, that's just an alien concept to me.

I'm not trying to slam you or anything... I just bet you and I go about things differently, and I'm honestly curious, no harm intended.

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I don't see why it would, when I enter circle I am cleansed with smoke and of course I shower before I go. We circle out in the woods and it is kind of hard changing clothes. Might scare the women folk. :whistle: Most people don't really pick up on it, but Mexicans seem to be able to spot a witch.

I have 3 really good friends who are JW's all know my religion and it doesn't bother them in the least. One was sick and couldn't drive, so I was driving her to Temple, but I couldn't sit inside. I tried, but the urge to jump up and tell they were all nuts was too great. It really seems to scare the Baptist, I lost all my Baptist friends when I became a Pagan.

You are right though, not all Pagans are witches. I was told, all Wiccans are witches, but not all Pagans are witches. I practice the craft, so I am a witch. Now Wiccians have differed with me on that point saying you're not a witch if your not a Wiccan. You can imagine what I said back to that. Wiccans and their dogma can drive me nuts. I am in an eclectic circle, everybody does stuff a little different. It is kind of like Baptists, JWs, Catholics, and a Jew all going to Church together. I don't think it would work for Christians but it works for us.

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oh,there is absolutely still prejudice .

Say cor some reason,cops came into my home ...

I have an altar in two rooms . One has skulls all over it,one of which is organic (its 1000 year old Tibetan ritual Skull).

I have books and acoutraments everywhere .Statues ,bells,incense burners .

Snakes,feathers,shells ....

They range from Buddhist to voodoo ,and I always wear black .

It's a new York thing really .nothing to do with goth .

I would be branded a devil worshipper blah blah blah .

I mean if I was a zealot Catholic that killed kids to rid them of the devil insidethem ,it would be more acceptable .

You should see my kitchen . old colonial bed warmers hanging on the wall,with an old fashioned cucoo clock ,that's orange, bats and spiders and witches all over it .

I have a plaque of a cauldron that says ,WITCHES INN .Est.1542,

Plushie ravens and witches on brooms ,bats ,talismen .

I have dolls of Santeria orishas and strands of their beads hang all over .

Athames and knives ....its in 3 rooms of the house .

I live alone so ...

Lady R has told me she still occ threatens to sue,if she's treated badly if its revealed what she is . This is nyc ....I think next to salem ,you have more witches,than anywhere else in the USA.

Then pagans . So prejudice is out there big time ,even now .

And all witches are pagans,but not all pagans are witches.

I had no idea all you guys were all family .

Edited by Simbi Laveau
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1000 year old Tibetan ritual Skull!!! How cool is that. How did you get a hold of it. I just have a simple alter. I have what is called locally a Florida crystal I found that has a Goddess shape to it. Some other assorted Crystals, a silver coin, a bird point arrow head my brother found, a snake I made from seed beads, incense burner I got at the dollar store, some feathers and a rabbit skin. It is messy right now, I have to get it ready for some blue moon magic at the end of the month. I have some willow I want to make into a wand. Willow is good for healing energy.

A witches best tool for magic, yourself.

Edited by Darkwind
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1000 year old Tibetan ritual Skull!!! How cool is that. How did you get a hold of it. I just have a simple alter. I have what is called locally a Florida crystal I found that has a Goddess shape to it. Some other assorted Crystals, a silver coin, a bird point arrow head my brother found, a snake I made from seed beads, incense burner I got at the dollar store, some feathers and a rabbit skin. It is messy right now, I have to get it ready for some blue moon magic at the end of the month. I have some willow I want to make into a wand. Willow is good for healing energy.

A witches best tool for magic, yourself.

Well my snakes are plastic or wood,but I like to have representations of them around .So many of my beloved,like snakes .

Saint Martha,Kali,Shiva,Marie Laveau .

And I like skulls. I believe in the whole skulls are powerful sympathetic objects,given they housed our intelligence .

I have crystal ones,all kinds of stones . I have two life sized articulated metal ones,made by a 19th century witch artisan .

They have odd energy .

My organic skull is a kapala .

Kapalas are traditionally supposed to be made out of a monk skull.

The art of making them,still goes on today.

Google kapala . There are skull caps,used just for ritual drinking ,and the made cups too.

Some are all inlaid with semi precious stones .

I actually do not lile those.

My kapala is just the skull,which is carved .

There are some with gods on them,or a Tibetan prayer wheel .

Mine has the 8 auspicious symbols on it.

It was found in a cave in Tibet ,in the early 20th century .

It was probably an item of worship,used by a monk .

A friend of mine is an archeologist,and she checked it out for me,and it is as old as I was told.

I got it at an auction actually.

I was a bit weirded out initially,as I never had anything like this before ,but it is beautiful.

I have photos,but I cannot upload them with my cell.

Let me find you an example of one like mine.

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And well,I have been practicing for many years now,so I have collected this stuff over decades.

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Ok,just magickally speaking ,monk skulls are used for meditations and auspicious events.

However,lore suggests that kapalas made of

1-a murder victim

2-a fetus or a child ,

Carry powers of a different nature .

You can use them in spells for more base reasons.

Money,power,revenge.

My skull,on examination,is that of a woman,so this was not a monk ,given the age of my skull,she was probably a witch ,or a murder victim ,or both .

My skull looks more like these.

She's a full skull,hand carved,no stones or metal inlay .

I do love her

http://boingboing.net/2004/10/08/carved-skull.html

http://skullappreciationsociety.com/tag/carved-skull/

Edited by Simbi Laveau
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Careful with revenge spells, remember what you send out also goes inward. lol

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Careful with revenge spells, remember what you send out also goes inward. lol

Oh no,I just wanted a real kapala. She is beautiful .

Actually,I was told she bestows money . Still waitin on that one :)

I was just saying,given its a female skull,there is no way she was a monk ,so she must have been a murder victim .

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Nice article, but why did they have the picture of the women in black with a black flower. It paints a picture we are Goths. Most witches you would never know unless they are wearing jewelry or are wearing ritual garb. I do run into the store in ritual garb for some last minute thing and get caught as a witch. I really get some looks, mostly form Mexicans. I also have a lot of what I call marry meet moments when your sitting next to someone and you see a piece of jewelry or someones says something only witches say. When I did jury duty for some odd reason three of us ended up sitting next to each other not knowing until we noticed our jewelry symbols. I think there are more witches out there than people realize. We are growing in great numbers. Our festivals get bigger every year.

Yeah my housemate wears fashion etc, the only small signs are the occasional pentagram etc.

Yes, we do. On the other hand, when I told some Jehovah's Witnesses at my door that I was a witch, they got a terrified look on their faces, and backed away from me, opened the gate, and scurried down the street throwing frightened looks over their shoulders, so there are compensations. BTW, as long as I lived at that address they never came back. An open declaration to born-agains works the same way. It's magic!

Is that a bad thing though? I send my hosuemate to answer the door to them on purpose and tell them she is a witch... It's hilerious.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not all Wiccans are witches. Wicca is a religion.

Edited by starchild1976
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Yes indeed Wicca is a religion. I guess you would have to take it up who is and who is not with Gerald Gardner or Doreen Valiente. They are the ones who got the whole Wicca thing going.

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Yes indeed Wicca is a religion. I guess you would have to take it up who is and who is not with Gerald Gardner or Doreen Valiente. They are the ones who got the whole Wicca thing going.

There are so many factions of Wicca now .

Gardnerian,Welsh,Minoan Sisterhood Black Forest Clan ,etc etc.

What kind is Laurie Cabbot ? I don't even know .

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Cabotism, I think. She has her own thing going on.

http://www.lauriecabot.com/

Wow, thats pretty nutty. Stuff like this is a big reason why I'm a solo practitioner. And hot dog the prices she's charging for stuff, crap crap crap... Maybe I could start scamming the snot out of people too, not. And I almost peed giggling to see she's a high priestess of the Cabot tradition- I would certainly hope so since she made it up.

Just wow.

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I don't know of many in my Pagan community who have much respect for her. Actually she is an embarrassment.

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I don't know of many in my Pagan community who have much respect for her. Actually she is an embarrassment.

One year,we we.t to Salem for Halloween ,on Halloween weekend .

I had never gone for Halloween .

Well her daughter was running her store,and she is the biggest b****.she was in the store for that weekend ,as I had never met either of them .

We were just browsing,and she acted like everyone was there to shoplift .

It's not like the place was packed,and she would miss someone slipping out with hand full of oil drams.

She was nasty if you asked questions ....

Screw that .We went to the lady who makes the custom oils that smell amazing .

So on Halloween ,we went to the hanging hill for the ritual .Everyone walks around there in cape holding candles .

It looked like I don't know what .....it was pretentious ,even to me .

So she had this giant metal archway ,and she told us all to walk thru it ,into the next world,and lose all the previous years...like sins ?

Complete WTF .

We left,and walked thru the town ,looking at the incredible decorations.

People reading palms for free. People gving out spiced cider. Incredible jack o lanterns.

The cemetery is alzo quite haunted .

I like salem ,but all of that pomp and circumstance,is a turn off.

Im more of a new orleans girl . Go figure .

I think her store has closed,and the daughter opened her own .Don't quote me,but I think so .

She's always been in competition with Lady Rhea,who is pretty much my mentor since I'm 16 years old .

People say a lot of crap about rhea,but she's saved my life,and helped me whenever I've needed it .

I knew Herman slater in passing ,and again,people talk a lot of crap .Herman was pretty much Rheas mentor to a degree but if it wasn't for people like Herman and rhea ,we would all still be in the closet .

Laurie ,tried to make it Hollywood ,Rhea and Herman just tried to make us accepted .

Rhea buried the hatchet with Laurie ,by actually befriending her daughter I think. I never asked the details ,but rhea hosted her at her Shoppe a few times .

Have you guys heard of HEX ? I think the guys name is Christian. He's a Wiccan that tried to open a store in Salem,and they pretty much ran him out of town .

Very uncool stuff from what I heard down in New Orleans .I didn't meet him,but the witches know him .

They accepted him there,with open arms.Witches and voodoo ppl alike .So there ya go .

Edited by Simbi Laveau
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You have to be careful who you link up with when it comes to Paganism. There are a lot of a** holes out there as there are with all religions. I got mix up with some bad people when I first started, I learned my lesson. I stay active in the community and do what I can to help people sort things out. Besides I enjoy being part of a circle. Tonight is Full Moon ritual and we have a new priestess to honor.

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What a great night, full moon ritual with magic. I got there early so I went to our spirit tree and I found 2 faery rings. I sat down in the middle of one of them. Wow, there was a vortex in the middle and I got zapped with all this energy, so I danced for the fay. I'll never get to sleep tonight. Ahhh... the magical life, I love it. (No I didn't eat the toad stools. :lol:) Secret life of Witches, ya man, but unless you're there in your heart you'll never understand the half of it. It is not something you learn in books.

Edited by Darkwind
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What a great night, full moon ritual with magic. I got there early so I went to our spirit tree and I found 2 faery rings. I sat down in the middle of one of them. Wow, there was a vortex in the middle and I got zapped with all this energy, so I danced for the fay. I'll never get to sleep tonight. Ahhh... the magical life, I love it. (No I didn't eat the toad stools. :lol:) Secret life of Witches, ya man, but unless you're there in your heart you'll never understand the half of it. It is not something you learn in books.

I went out last night at about 3 am,to just look .

I'm in a more suburban area of nyc,so we have trees and grass and backyards and gardens.

So I went out to look at the moon,and I went into my backyard .

I am the only nocturnal on ny block,so every home is dark,save mine.

My backyard has no lights...

I've been back there in the middle of the night,a hundred times

No biggie .

So I'm back there ,and I turned my back towards the house,and the expanse of the dark yard,loomed behind me.

Now I don't believe in werewolves per se....but for the first time ,I felt eyes on me back there.

No idea what it was,but I immediately flashed on a hairy wolf snout and fangs .I beelined it to my side door so fast ,looking up at the huge full moon as I did so .

Never done that in my life.

I do Inari and moon magick back there quite a lot ....no biggie .

My friends would all peal with laughter if they heard this one .

I would say im embarrassed,but I def felt eyes on me back there .Creepy ones.

yyyyuuuuhhhh....

Edited by Simbi Laveau
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Most likely a coon. They can give you the creepies, I can kind of pick up on them when they are watching me. . I heard one when I got home, I was glad the cat was in. The only thing that scares me anymore are humans. There is a woman in our circle who is scared of everything in the woods. That is tough for a Pagan. She was worried about this big frog croaking. She thought it was a gator. Of course I didn't help her much when I said "Now that sounds like a big one."

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